LIBRARY 

OF  THE 

UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA. 


GIFT  OF 


^lu^owYv^ 

Class 


University  of  California  •  Berkeley 


MAJOR    PETER    ROMAN. 


HISTORICAL  SKETCH 


FlaU  Indian  Nation 


From  the  Year  1813  to   I89O. 


thi-di-ing   tin-    History   of    the    Establish- 
ment, of  St.  Mni'ii'N  Indian  Mission  in 
flic  Bitter  Root   '1'nllct/.  Mont. 


With    SUftrhett   of  tin-    Mi*»i<mary   JAf<   of 

Itdi-alli  and  Other  E<n-1n 
37 1  .s  8  i  o  i  K  1 t  "iett . 


WAeSoftheBUCKFEETandFUTHEABS 


Slt-ftrhcft    of    Ilititorij,    Trd/tpini/    itntf 
Tfdtfiii(/  in  tin-  Kit rl y  7M//.v.  n-itli 


BY    PETER    RONAN, 

United   States  Indian   Agent,   Flat- 
head  Agency,  Montana. 


Published  and  Copyrighted  by  th«  Journal   Pub- 
lishing Co.,  Helena,  Mont. 


li    UNIVERSITY 


sircJ 


PREFACE. 

The  compiling  of  this  little  work  was  done 
by  the  author  at  the  Flathead  Agency,  Mon- 
tana, during  leisure  hours.  It  was  published 
in  the  Helena  Montana  Journal,  and  from  the 
columns  of  that  paper  transferred  into  book 
form.  At  the  solicitation  of  friends  it  has  been 
sent  out  in  its  present  shape.  No  merit  is 
claimed  for  the  work,  except  that  it  is  a  plain 
historical  sketch  of  the  Flathead  Indian 
nation,  from  1813,  to  present  date,  with  the 
history  of  the  establishment  of  St.  Mary's  Mis- 
sion, by  Father  DeSmet,  and  scenes  and 
incidents  of  the  olden  times  in  Montana. 

THE  AUTHOR. 
Flathead  Agency,  1890. 


Lsirz 


ZJ15] 


SYNOPSIS  OF  CONTENTS. 

Cox's  Adventures  on  the  Columbia  River. 

McMillan's  Trading  Post,  at  mouth  of  Mis- 
soula  River.  ^. 

First  Celebration  of  Christmas  by  white  men 
in  Montana. 

Torturing  a  Hlackfoot  prisoner. 

War  between  the  Flatheads  and  the  Black  - 
feet. 

Good  Traits  of  the  Flatheads. 

The  War  Chief  | 

Indian  Cure  for  Rheumatism. 

Flathead  Code  of  Morality. 

Flathead  Tradition  in  Respect  to  Beavers. 

The  Name  Flathead  a  Misnomer. 

Description  of  the  real  Flatheads  and  the 
Mode  of  Flattening  the  Heads. 

Marriage  of  Piere  Michael. 

At  the  Spokane  Trading  Post. 

Letter  from  Okimagen,  Feb.  1814. 

St.  Mary's  Mission,  in  the  Bitter  Root  Val- 
ley. 

The  Flathead  Tribe  send  a  Delegation  of 
Indians  to  St.  Louis,  in  1836,  to  bring  them 
Catholic  Missionaries,  but  they  never  returned. 

A  Second  Delegation  sent  in  1837 — all 
killed  by  Sioux  Indians^ 

A  Third  Expedition  successful  in  reaching 
St.  Louis,  in  1839-. 

Father  DeSmet  accompanied  the  Indians 
back  to  the  Rocky  Mountains. 

St.  Mary's  Mission  Established  in  1841. 

First  Seed  planted  in  Montana  in  1842. 

Arrival  of  Father  Anthony  Ravalli. 

First  Grist  and  Saw  Mill  Erected  in  Mon- 
tana, 

Jealousies  of  the  Trappers  and  Fur  Traders. 

St.  Mary's  Mission  Abandoned. 

Major  Owen's  Acquisition  of  Fort  Owen. 


v*~^. 

— J   | 


1  1 0002 


\Vreck  of  the  Missionaries  at  Horse  Plains 
and  Thompson  Falls. 

St.  Ignatius  Mission  Established  in  1854. 

St.  Mary's  Mission  Re-Established  in  1866. 

The  Great  Explorers,  Lewis  and  Clarke, 
among  the  Flathead  Indians 

Election  of  Chief  Victor. 

An  Indian  Buffalo  Hunt  in  Old  Times. 

Official  visit  of  Senator  G.  C.  Vest,  of  Mis- 
souri, and  Major  Martin  Maginnis,  Represen- 
tative from  Montana. 

Council  \vith  the  Indians  at  Flathead 
Agency. 

Council  with  Chief  Chariot  at  St.  Mary's 
Mission. 

Description  of  Chief  Chariot. 

The  Treaty  Between  Governor  Stevens  and 
Chief  Victor. 

President  Gartield's  Agreement  with  Chief 
Chariot  and  the  Signatures  Attached  to  the 
same. 

Synopsis  of  the  Official  Report  of  Senator 
Vest  and  Representative  Maginnis. 

Visit  to  Washington  of  Chief  Chariot  and 
Delegation  of  Indians  accompanied  by  Agent 
Ronan. 

A  Council  Between  the  Agent,  and  Chief  Char- 
lot's  band  at  St.  Mary's  Mission. 

Number  of  Indians  Living  in  Bitter  Root 
Valley  in  1884. 

Council  held  in  1884,  Represented  on  the 
part  of  the  United  States  by  Hon.  J.  K. 
McCammon,  Assistant  Attorney  General  of  the 
Interior  Department,  Hon.  W.  F  Sanders,  on 
the  part  of  the  Northern  Pacific  Railroad. 
Indians  Represented  by  Chief  Michael,  Chief 
Eneas  and  Chief  A  rlee. 

Sketch  of  the  last  of  the  War  Chiefs,  Arlee. 
Adolph  and  Big  Canoe 

Bulwer's  translation  of  Schiller's  Burial 
Song. 


png 


isual 


IN  TE  OLDEN  DAYS 


A  History  of  the  Flathead  Indian  Na- 
tion and  Its  Decline. 

BLACKFEET  WARS  OF  EXTERMINATION 


The    First  Christmas    Celebrated  by  White 

Men  in  Montana— The  Early  Traders  of 

the  Missonla  River. 


By  Major  Peter  Ronan. 

[Copyrighted.] 

On  Thursday,  the  17th  of  October,  1811, 
there  sailed  from  New  York  for  Astoria  the 
good  ship  Beaver,  owned  and  outfitted  by 
John  Jacob  Astor,  the  founder  of  the  great 
Northwest  Fur  company.  Among  the 
cabin  passengers  was  a  young  man  by  the 
name  of  Cox,  who,  upon  his  return  to 
England,  in  1817,  wrote  "Cox's  Adventures 
on  the  Columbia  River,"  and  to  his  nara- 
tive  I  am  indebted  for  much  of  the  early 
information  contained  in  those  pages  con- 
cerning the  Flathead  Indians  of  Montana. 
After  the  arrival  of  the  ship  at  Astoria,  Mr. 
Cox  was  sent  with  a  large  party  of  hunters 
and  trappers  to  explore  and  establish  trad- 
ing posts  on  the  upper  waters  and  tribu- 
utaries  of  the  Columbia  river. 

The  following  is  an  extract  from  the 
letter  of  instructions,  sent  from 
headquarters  at  Astoria  to  Mr.  Cox,  who 
was  then  trading  for  the  company  at  Oka- 
nagan.  "You  will  assume  the  immediate 
management  of  the  brigade  and  everything 


[ffl 


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also  during  the  voyage,  and  make  the  best 
of  your  way  to  Spokane  House,  where  you 
will  make  as  little  delay  as  possible.  From 
thence  you  will  proceed  to  join  Mr.  McMil- 
lin  at  the  Flatheads;  and  if  you  are  reduced 
to  eat  horses,  either  at  Spokane  or  further 
on,  they  ought  to  be  the  worst." 

The  liberal  writer  of  this  economical  ad- 
vice was  one  of  the  chief  managers  of  Mr. 
Astor's  trading  post  at  Astoria,  and  was 
spoken  of  in  other  respects  to  be  a  very 
worthy,  good  natured  individual.  At  Spo- 
kane several  horses  had  to  be  killed  for  food, 
but  as  Mr.  Cox  was  noted  as  a  good  liver 
and  fond  of  the  substantial  fat  and  lean, 
candidly  confessed  that  in  his  choice  ot 
horses  for  the  kettle,  he  willfully  departed 
from  his  instructions  by  selecting  those 
whose  ribs  were  least  visible. 

On  the  24th  of  December,  1813,  McMillan's 
trading  post  was  reached.  The  fort  was 
situated  on  a  point  at  the  mouth  of  the 
Missoula  river,  and  described  as  formed  by 
the  junction  of  a  bold  mountain  torrent 
with  the  Flathead  river,  and  surrounded  on 
all  sides  with  high  and  thickly  wooded  hills, 
covered  with  pine,  spruce,  larch,  beech, 
birch  and  cedar.  The  Flathead  river  is  now 
called  the  Pend  d'Oreille  river,  but  appears 
on  the  maps  from  its  junction  with  the  Mis- 
soula river  as  Clarke's  Fork  of  the  Columbia. 
At  this  point,  which  is  now  the  western 
boundary  of  the  Flathead  reservation,  as 
before  stated,  McMillan  erected  his  fort.  It 
had  a  good  trading  store,  a  comfortable 
house  for  the  men,  and  snug  quarters  for 
the  officer  of  the  company  in  charge, 
his  clerk  and  assistants.  The  Montana 
historian  may  safely  record  those  buildings 

as  the  first  ever  erected  within  the  broad 
2 


m 


pj&l 


H 


limits  of  her  boundaries.  Here  Mr.  Cox  and 
his  fellow- voyagers  took  up  their  winter 
•  quarters.  A  large  band  of  Flathead  warriors 
!  were  encamped  about  the  fort.  They  hadN 
recently  returned  from  the  Buffalo  country  / 
and  had  avenged  their  defeat  of  the  preced- 
ing year  by  a  signal  victory  over  their  ene- 1 
mies,  the  Blackfeet,  several  of  whose  war- 
riors, with  their  women,  they  had  taken/ 
prisoners.  McMillan's  tobacco  and  stock  of 
trading  goods  had  been  entirely  expended 
previous  to  this  arrival,  and  the  Indians 
were  much  in  want  of  ammunition;  the 
goods  brought  were  therefore  a  source  of 
great  joy  to  both  parties.  The  natives 
smoKed  the  much  loved  weed  for  several 
days  successively.  The  hunters  killed  a 
few  mountain  sheep,  and  Cox  brought  up 
a  bag  of  flour,  a  bag  of  rice,  plenty  of  tea 
and  coffee,  some  arrowroot,  and  fifteen  gal- 
lons of  prime  rum. 

There  was  celebrated  the  first  Christmas 
ever  celebrated  by  white  men  in  Montana 
territory.  Mr.  Cox  says:  "We  spent  a  com- 
paratively happy  Christmas,  and  by  the  side 
of  a  blazing  fire  in  a  warm  room,  forgot  the 
sufferings  we  endured  in  our  dreary  progress 
through  the  woods.  There  was,  however, 
in  the  midst  of  our  festivities  a  great  draw- 
back, from  the  pleasure  we  should  other- 
wise have  enjoyed.  I  allude  to  the  un- 
fortunate Blackfeet  who  had  been  captured 
by  the  Flatheads.  Having  been  informed 
that  they  were  about  putting  one  of  their 
prisoners  to  death,  I  went  to  their  camp  to 
witness  the  spectacle.  The  man  was  tied  to 
a  tree,  after  which  they  heated  an  old  barrel 
of  a  gun  until  it  became  red  hot,  with  which 
they  burned  him  on  the  legs,  thighs, 

neck,  cheek  and  stomach.    They  then  com- 
3 


LSI 


menced  cutting  the  flesh  from  about  the 
nails,  which  they  pulled  out,  and  next  sep- 
arated the  fingers  from  the  hand  joint  by 
joint.  During  the  performance  of  these  cru- 
elties, the  wretched  captive  never  winced, 
and  instead  of  suing  for  mercy  he  added 
fresh  stimulants  to  their  barbarous  ingenu- 
ity by  the  most  irritating  reproaches,  part  of 
(Sl\S\  which  our  interpreter  translated  as  follows: 

"My  heart  is  strong;  you  do  not  hurt  me; 
you  can't  hurt  me;  you  are  fools;  you  do  not 
know  how  to  torture:  try  it  again;  I  don't 
feel  any  pain  yet.  We  torture  your  relations 
a  great  deal  better,  because  we  make  them 
cry  out  loud,  like  little  children.  You  are 
not  brave— you  have  small  hearts,  and  you 
are  always  afraid  to  fight." 

Then  addressing  one  in  particular  he  said: 
"It  was  by  my  arrow  you  lost  your  eye;" 
upon  which  the  Flathead  darted  at  him 
and  with  a  knife  in  a  moment  scooped  out 
one  of  his  eyes,  at  the  same  time  cutting  the 
bridge  of  his  nose  almost  in  two.  This  did 
not  stop  him;  with  the  remaining  eye  he 
looked  sternly  at  another  and  said,  "I  killed 
your  brother,  and  I  scalped  your  old  fool  of 
a  lather."  The  warrior  to  whom  this  was 
addressed  instantly  sprung  at  him  and  sep- 
arated the  scalp  from  his  head.  He  was 
then  about  plunging  a  knife  in  his  heart, 
until  he  was  told  by  the  chief  to  desist.  The 
raw  scull,  bloody  socket  and  mutilated  nose 
now  presented  a  horrible  appearance,  but 
by  no  means  changed  his  tone  of  defiance. 

"It  was  I,"  said  he  to  the  chief,  "that 
made  your  wife  a  prisoner  last  fall — we  put 
PJI^  out  her  eyes;  we  tore  out 
her  tongue;  we  treated  her  like  a 
dog.  Forty  of  our  young  warriors—" 
The  chief  became  incensed  the  moment  his 


wife's  name  was  mentioned;  he  seized  his 
gun  and,  before  the  last  sentence  was  ended, 
a  ball  from  it  passed  through  the  brave  fel- 
low's heart  and  terminated  his  frightful 
sufferings.  Shocking,  however,  as  this 
dreadful  exhibition  was,  it  was  far  exceeded 
by  the  atrocious  cruelties  practiced  on  the 
female  prisoners.  We  remonstrated  against 
the  exercise  of  such  horrible  cruelties.  They 
replied  by  saying  the  Blackfeet  treated  their 
prisoners  in  the  same  manner;  that  it  was 
the  course  adopted  by  all  red  warriors,  and 
that  they  could  not  think  of  giving  up  the 
gratification  of  their  revenge  to  the  foolish 
and  womanish  feelings  of  white  men. 

Shortly  after  this  we' observed  a  young  fe- 
male led  forth,  apparently  not  more  than 
fourteen  or  fifteen  years  of  age,  surrounded 
by  some  old  women,  who  were  conducting 
her  to  one  end  of  the  village, 
whither  they  were  followed  by  a 
number  of  youner  men.  Having  learned 
the  infamous  intentions  of  her  conquerors, 
and  feeling  interested  for  the  unfortunate 
victim,  we  renewed  our  remonstrances,  but 
received  nearly  the  same  answer  as  before. 
Finding  them  still  inflexible,  and  wishing 
to  adopt  every  means  in  our  power  consist- 
ent with  safety,  in  the  cause  of  humanity, 
we  ordered  our  interpreter  to  acquaint  them 
that,  highly  as  we  valued  their  friendship 
and  much  as  we  esteemed  their  furs,  we 
would  quit  their  country  for  ever  unless 
they  discontinued  their  unmanly  and  dis- 
graceful cruelties  to  their  prisoners.  This 
had  the  desired  effect,  and  the  miserable 
captive  was  led  back  to  her  sorrowing  group 
of  friends.  Our  interference  was  nearly  ren- 
dered ineffectual  by  the  furious  old  priest- 
esses who  had  been  conducting  her  to  the 


rang 


sacrifice.  They  told  the  young  warriors  they 
were  cowards,  fools  and  had  not  the 
hearts  of  fleas,  and  called  on  them  in  the 
names  of  their  mothers,  sisters  and  wives  to 
follow  the  steps  of  their  forefathers  and  have 
their  revenge  on  the  dogs  of  Blackfeet.  They 
began  to  waver,  but  we  affected  not  to  un- 
derstand what  the  old  women  had  been 
saying.  We  told  them  that  this  act  of  self- 
denial  on  their  part  was  peculiarly  grateful 
to  the  white  men,  and  by  it  they  would  se- 
cure our  permanent  residence  among  them, 
and  in  return  for  their  furs  be  always  fur- 
nished with  guns  and  am  munition  sufficient 
to  repel  the  attacks  of  their  old  enemies,  and 
preserve  their  relations  from  being  made 
prisoners.  This  decided  the  doubtful  and 
the  chief  promised  faithfully  that  no  more 
tortures  should  be  inflicted  on  the  prisoners, 
which  I  believe  was  rigidly  adhered  to,  at 
least  during  the  winter  of  1813. 

The  Flatheads  were  formerly  much  more 
numerous  than  they  were  at  this  period, 
but  owing  to  the  constant  hostilities  be- 
tween them  and  the  Blackfeet  Indians  their 
numbers  had  been  greatly  diminished. 
While  pride,  policy,  ambition,  self-preser- 
vation, or  the  love  of  aggrandizement,  often 
deluges  the  civilized  world  with  Christian 
blood,  the  only  cause  assigned  by  the  natives 
of  whom  I  write  for  their  perpetual  war- 
fare, is  the  love  of  buffalo.  There  are  ex- 
tensive plains  to  the  eastward  of  the  moun- 
tains frequented  in  the  summer  and  au- 
tumnal months  by  numerous  herds  of 
buffalo.  Hither  tne  river  tribes  repair  to 
hunt  those  animals,  that  they  may  procure 
as  much  of  their  meat  as  will  supply  them 
until  the  succeeding  season.  In  these  ex- 


m 

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1 

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L5- 


cursions  they  often  meet  and  the  most 
sanguinary  conflicts  follow. 

"The  Blackfeet  claimed  all  of  that  part  of 
the  country  immediately  at  the  foot  of  the 
mountains,  east  of  the  main  range,  which 
was  most  frequented  by  the  buffalo;  and 
alleged  that  the  Flatheads,  by  resorting 
thither  to  hunt,  were  intruders  whom  they 
were  bound  to  oppose  on  all  occasions.  The 
latter,  on  the  contrary,  asserted  that  their 
forefathers  had  always  claimed  and  exercised 
the  right  of  hunting  on  these  disputed  lands; 
and  that  while  one  of  their  warriors  re- 
mained alive  the  right  should  not  be  relin- 
quished. The  consequence  of  these  con- 
tinued wars  was  dreadful,  particularly  to  the 
Flatheads,  who,  being  the  weaker  in  num- 
bers, were  generally  the  greatest  sufferers. 
Independent  of  their  inferiority  in  this  re- 
spect, their  enemy  had  another  great  ad- 
vantage in  the  use  of  firearms,  which 
they  obtained  from  the  company's  trad- 
ing posts  established  in  the  department  of 
Forts  des  Prairies.  To  those  the  Flatheads 
had  nothing  to  oppose  but  arrows  and  their 
own  undaunted  bravery.  Every  year  pre- 
vious to  the  coming  of  McMillan's  party 
witnessed  the  gradual  diminution  of  their 
numbers,  and  total  annihilation  would 
shortly  have  been  the  consequence  but  for 
the  establishment  of  the  trading  post  at  the 
mouth  of  the  Missoula,  and  the  arrival  of 
Cox  and  his  party  with  a  plentiful  supply  of 
arms  and  ammunition  for  trade,  They  were 
overjoyed  at  having  an  opportunity  of  pur- 
chasing them,  and  qtfjckly  stocked  them- 
selves with  a  sufficientThJaantity  of  both. 

From  this  moment  affairs  took  a  decided 
change  in  their  favor,  and  in  their  subse- 
quent contests  the  numbers  of  killed, 


LSI 


wounded  and  prisoners  were  more  equal. 
The  Blackfeet  became  enraged  at  this,  and 
declared  to  the  company's  people  at  Fort 
des  Prairies  that  all  white  men  who  might 
fall  into  their  hands,  to  the  westward  of  the 
mountains,  would  .be  treated  by  them  as 
enemies,  in  consequence  of  their  furnishing 
the  Flatheads  with  weapons  which  were 
used  with  such  deadly  effect 
against  their  nation.  This  threat,  as  will 
appear  hereafter,  was  strictly  put  in  execu- 
tion. The  lands  of  the  Flatheads,  in  those 
days  were  well  stocked  with  deer,  mountain 
sheep,  bears,  mountain  goat,  wild  fowl  and 
fish,  and  when  an  endeavor  was  made  to  in- 
duce them  to  give  up  such  dangerous  expe- 
ditions and  confine  themselves  to  the  pro- 
duce of  their  own  country,  they  replied  that 
their  fathers  had  always  hunted  on  the  buf- 
falo grounds;  that  they  were  accustomed  to 
do  the  same  thing  from  their  infancy,  and 
they  would  not  now  abandon  a  practice 
which  existed  for  generations  among  their 
people. 

Mr.  Cox  stated  in  his  writings  of  those 
early  days,  that  with  exception  of  the  cruel 
treatment  of  their  prisoners  (which  as  it 
was  general  among  all  Indians,  must  not  be 
imputed  to  them  as  a  peculiar  vice)  Flat- 
heads  had  fewer  failings  than  any  of  the 
tribes  he  ever  met  with.  He  described  them 
as  honest  in  their  dealings,  brave  in  the 
field,  quiet  and  amenable  to  their  chiefs, 
fond  of  cleanliness,  and  decided  enemies  to 
falsehood  of  every  description.  The  women 
were  excellent  wives  and  mothers  and  their 
character  for  fidelity  so  well  established  that 
the  early  traveler  and  trader  bears  witness 
that  he  never  heard  of  an  instance  of  one 

of  them  proving  unfaithful  te  her  husband. 

8 


Tney  were  also  free  from  the  vice  of  back 
biting,  so  common  among  the  lower  tribes, 
and  laziness  was  a  stranger  among  them. 
Both  sexes  were  described  as  comparatively 
very  fair,  and  their  complexions  a  shade 
lighter  than  the  palest  new  cop- 
per after  being  freshly  rubbed.  They 
are  remarkably  well  made,  rather 
slender  and  very  seldom  corpu- 
lent. The  dress  of  the  men  in  those 
days  consisted  solely  of  long  leggings,  which 
reached  from  the  ankles  to  the  hips,  and  were 
fastened  by  strings  to  a  leathern  belt  around 
the  waist,  and  a  shirt  of  dressed  deer  skin 
with  loose  hanging  sleeves,  which  fell  down 
to  their  knees.  The  outside  seams  of  the 
leggings  and  shirt  sleeves  had  fringes  of 
leather.  The  women  were  covered  by  a 
loose  robe  of  the  same  material  reaching 
from  the  neck  to  the  feet,  and  ornamented 
with  fringes,  beads,  hawk-bills  and  thimbles. 
The  dresses  of  both  were  regularly  cleaned 
with  pipe  clay,  which  abounds  in  parts  of 
the  country.  They  had  no  permanent 
covering  for  the  head,  but  in  wet  or  stormy 
weather  sheltered  it  by  part  of  a  buffalo 
robe,  which  completely  answered  all  pur- 
poses of  a  surtout.  The  principal  chief  of 
the  tribe  was  hereditary;  but  from  their 
constant  wars  they  adopted  the  wise  and 
salutary  custom  of  electing '  as  their  leader 
in  battle  that  warrior  in  whom  the  greatest 
portions  of  wisdom,  strength  and  bravery 
were  combined.  The  election  took  place 
every  year,  and  it  sometimes  occurred  that 
the  general  in  one  campaign  became  a  pri- 
vate in  the  next.  This  "war 
chief,"  as  they  termed  him,  had  no  author- 
ity whatever  when  at  home  and  was  as 
any  of  the  tribe  to  the  heriditary  chief;  but 


IE 

1 
T' 


when  the  warriors  set  out  on  their  hunting 
excursions  to  the  buffalo  plains,  he  assumed 
the  supreme  command,  which  he  excer- 
cised  with  despotic  sway  until  their  return. 
He  carried  a  long  whip  with  a  thick  handle, 
decorated  with  scalps  and  feathers  and  gen- 
erally appointed  two  active  warriors  as  aides 
de  camp.  On  their  advance  toward  the 
enemy  he  always  took  the  lead,  and  on  their 
return  he  brought  up  the  rear.  Great  regu- 
larity was  observed  during  the  march,  and  if 
any  of  the  tribe  fell  out  of  the  ranks  or 
committed  any  other  breach  of  discipline, 
he  instantly  received  a  flagellation  from  the 
whip  of  the  war  chieftain.  He  acted  with 
the  most  perfect  impartiality  and  would 
punish  one  of  his  subalterns  for  disobe- 
dience of  orders  with  equal  severity  as  any 
other  offender.  Custom,  however,  joined  to 
a  sense  of  tribal  duty,  had  reconciled  them 
to  these  arbitrary  acts  of  power,  which  they 
never  complained  of  or  attempted  to  resent. 
After  the  conclusion  of  the  cam- 
paign, or  their  arrival  on  their 
own  lands  his  authority  ceases; 
when  the  peace  chief  calls  all  the  tribe  to- 
gether, and  they  proceed  to  a  new  election. 
There  was  no  canvassing,  caucussing,  cat- 
hauling  or  intriguing,  and  should  the  last 
leader  be  superseded,  he  retires  from  his 
office  with  apparent  indifference,  and  with- 
out betraying  any  symptoms  of  discontent. 
At  the  time  of  which  Mr.  Cox  wrote  the 
fighting  chief  had  been  five  times  re-elected. 
He  was  about  thirty-five  years  of  age  and 
had  killed  twenty  of  the  Blackfeet  in  various 
battles,  the  scalps  of  whom  were  suspended 
in  triumphal  pride  from  a  pole  at  the  door 
'tf  his  lodge.  His  wife  had  been  captured  by 

1  he  enemy  the  year  before  and  her  loss  made 
10 


1 


OF  THE 

UNIVERSITY 

OF 


SIGNAL  OF  SUCCESSFUL  FLATHEAD  WAR  PARTY 


isi  raj 


a  deep  impression  on  him.  He  was  highly 
respected  by  all  the  warriors  for  his  superior 
wisdom  and  bravery,  a  consciousness  of 
which,  joined  to  the  length  of  time  he  had 
been  accustomed  to  command,  imparted  to 
his  manners  a  degree  of  dignity  which  was 
not  remarked  in  any  other  Indian.  He 
would  not  take  a  second  wife,  and  when  the 
recollection  of  the  one  he  had  lost  came 
across  his  mind,  he  retired  into  the  deepest- 
solitude  of  the  woods  to  indulge  his  sorrow, 
where  some  of  the  tribe  stated 
they  often  found  him  calling  on  her 
spirit  to  appear,  and  invoking  vengeance 
upon  her  conquerors.  When  these  bursts 
of  grief  subsided  his  countenance  assumed 
a  tinge  of  stern  melancholy,  strongly  indi- 
cating the  mingled  emotions  of  sorrow  and 
unmitigated  hatred  of  the  Blackfeet.  He 
was  invited  sometimes  to  the  fort,  on  which 
occasions  he  was  sympathized  with  upon 
his  loss;  but  at  the  same  time  acquainted 
with  the  manner  in  which  civilized 
nations  made  war.  He  was  told  that  war- 
riors were  only  made  prisoners,  who  were 
never  tortured  or  killed,  and  no  brave  white 
man  would  ever  injure  a  female  or  a  de- 
fenseless man;  that  if  such  a  custom  had 
prevailed  among  them,  he  would  now  by 
the  exchange  of  prisoners  be  able  to  recover 
his  wife,  who  was  by  their  barbarous  system 
lost  to  him  forever;  and  if  it  were  possible 
to  bring  about  a  peace  with  their  enemies, 
the  frightful  horrors  of  war  might  at  least 
be  considerably  softened  by  adopting  the 
practice  of  civilized  nations.  It  was  added 
that  he  now  .had  a  glorious  op- 
portunity of  commencing  the  career 
of  magnanimity  by  sending  home 
uninjured  the  captives  he  had  made  during 


151  [HJ 


the  last  campaign;  that  the  friends  of  the 
company  on  the  eastern  side  of  the  moun- 
tains would  exert  their  influence  with  the 
Blackfeet  to  induce  them  to  follow  his  ex- 
ample and  that  ultimately  it  might  be  the 
means  of  uniting  the  two  rival  nations  in 
the  bonds  of  peace.  He  was  at  first  opposed 
to  making  any  advance,  but  on  farther 
pressing  he  consented  to  make  the  trial, 
provided  that  the  hereditary  chief  and  the 
tribe  started  no  objection.  On  quitting  the 
fort  he  made  use  of  the  following  words: 
"My  white  friends,  you  do  not  know  the 
savage  nature  of  the  Blackfeet;  they  hope  to 
exterminate  the  tribe  of  the  Selish,  whom 
y;u  call  Flatheads;  they  are"a  great  deal 
more  numerous  than  we  are,  and  were  it  not 
for  our  bravery  their  object  would  have  long 
ago  been  achieved.  We  shall  now,  accord- 
ing to  your  wishes,  send  back  the  prisoners; 
but  remember,  I  tell  you,  that  they  will 
laugh  at  the  interference  of  your 
relations  beyond  the  mountains 
and  never  spare  a  man,  woman  or  child 
that  they  can  take  of  our  nation.  Your  ex- 
ertions to  save  blood  show  you  are  good 
people.  If  they  follow  our  example  we 
shall  kill  no  more  prisoners,  but  I  tell  you 
they  will  laugh  at  you  and  call  you  fools." 

The  war  chief,  true  to  his  words,  assembled 
the  elders  and  warriors,  to  whom  he  repre- 
sented the  subject  of  the  discourse,  and, 
after  a  long  speech,  advised  them  to  make 
the  trial,  which  would  please  their  white 
friends  and  show  their  readiness  to  avoid 
unnecessary  cruelty.  Such  an  unexpected 
proposition  gave  rise  to  an  animated  debate, 
which  continued  for  some  time,  but  being 
supported  by  a  man  for  whom  they  enter- 
tained so  much  respect,  it  was  finally  car- 
is 


c—,— .1 

H 


m 


ried,  and  it  was  determined  to  send  home 
the  Blackfeet  on  the  breaking  up  of  the 
winter.  The  traders  undertook  to  furnish 
them  with  horses  and  provisions  for  their 
journey,  or  to  pay  the  Flatheads  for  so 
doing.  This  was  agreed  to,  and  about 
the  middle  of  March  the  prisoners 
took  their  departure  tolerably  well  mounted, 
and  with  dried  meat  enough  to  take  them  to 
their  friends.  Mr.  McMillan  who  had  passed 
three  years  in  the  Blackfoot  country,  and 
was  acquainted  with  their  language,  in- 
formed them  of  the  exertions  used  to  save 
their  lives  and  prevent  farther  repetitions  of 
torture;  and  requested  them  particularly  to 
mention  the  circumstance  to  their  country- 
men, in  order  that  they  might  adopt  a  simi- 
lar proceeding.  Letters  were  also  sent  by 
them  to  the  gentlemen  in  charge  of  the  dif- 
ferent establishments  at  Forts  des  Prairies, 
detailing  the  matter,  and  impressing  on 
them  the  necessity  of  their  attempting  to  in- 
duce the  Blackfeet  in  their  vicinity  to  follow 
the  example  set  them  by  the  Flatheads. 

In  those  days  the  Flatheads  were  a  healthy 
tribe  and  subject  to  few  diseases.  Common 
fractures  caused  by  an  occasional  pitch  off  a 
horse.,  or  a  fall  down  a  declivity  in  the  ardor 
of  hunting,  were  cured  by  tight  bandages 
and  pieces  of  wood  like  staves  placed  longi- 
tudinally around  the  part,  to  which 
they  were  secured  by  leathern  thongs. 
For  contusions  they  generally  bled  either  in 
the  temples,  arms,  wrists  or  ankles  with 
pieces  of  sharp  flint,  or  heads  of  arrows. 
Mr.  Cox  relates  that  he  experienced  some 
acute  rheumatic  attacks.  An  old  Indian 
proposed  to  relieve  him  provided  he  con- 
sented to  follow  the  mode  of  cure  practiced 

by  him  in  similar  cases  on  young  warriors  of 
13 


LSI 


the  tribe.  On  inquiring  the  method  he  in- 
tended to  pursue  he  replied  that  it  merely 
consisted  in  getting  up  early  every  morning 
for  some  weeks  and  plunging  into  the  river 
and  to  leave  the  rest  to  him.  This  was  a 
most  chilling  proposition,  fhr  the  river  was 
firmly  frozen,  and  an  opening  had  to  be 
made  in  the  ice  preparatory  to  each  immer- 
sion. The  patient  asked  him:  ''Would  it 
not  answer  equally  well  to  have  the  water 
brought  to  the  bed  warm?"  But  he  shook 
his  head  and  replied  that  he  was 
surprised  that  a  young  white  chief 
who  ought  to  be  wise  should  ask  so  foolish 
a  question.  As  rheumatism  was  a  stranger 
among  Indians,  and  as  he  was  upwards  of 
three  thousand  miles  from  any  professional 
assistance,  he  determined  to  adopt  the  dis- 
agreeable expedient,  and  commenced  opera- 
tions the  following  morning.  The  Indian 
first  broke  a  hole  in  the  ice  sufficiently  rdrge 
to  admit  both.  Enveloped  in  a  large  buff- 
alo robe  the  patient  proceeded  to  the  spot, 
and  throwing  off  his  covering,  with  the 
Flathead  jumped  into  the  frigid  orifice  to- 
gether. The  Indian  immediately  com- 
menced rubbing  tne  shoulders,  back  and 
loins  of  the  white  man,  whose  hair  in  the 
meantime  became  ornamented  with  icicles, 
and  while  the  lower  joints  were  undergoing 
their  friction,  his  face,  neck  and  shoulders 
were  encased  in  a  thin  covering  of  ice.  On 
getting  released  he  was  rolled  in  a 
blanket  and  taken  back  to  the  bed  room,  in 
which  a  good  fire  was  burning,  and  in  a  few 
minutes  he  experienced  a  warm  glow  all 
over  his  body.  Chilling  and  disagreeable  as 
those  ablutions  were,  yet,  as  he  found  them 
so  beneficial,  hec®ntinued  them  for  twenty- 
five  days,  at  the  expiration  of  which  his 
14 


in 

H 


physician  was  pleased  to  say  that  no  more 
were  necessary,  and  that  his  patient  had 
done  his  duty  like  a  wise  man.  He  stated 
that  he  was  never  after  troubled  with  a  rheu- 
matic pain. 

In  the  early  times  the  Flatheads  believed 
in  the  existence  of  a  god  and  evil  spirit,  and 
consequently  in  a  future  state  of  reward  and 
punishment.  They  held  that  after  death  the 
good  Indian  went  to  a  country  in  which 
there  was  perpetual  summer;  that  he  would 
meet  his  wife  and  children;  that  the 
rivers  would  abound  with  fish,  and  the 
plains  with  the  much  loved  buffalo; 
and  that  he  will  spend  this  time  in  hunting 
and  fishing,  free  from  the  terrors  of  war, 
or  the  apprehensions  of  cold  or  famine.  The 
bad  man,  they  believed,  would  go  to  a  place 
covered  with  eternal  snow;  that  he  would 
always  be  shivering  with  cold,  and  would 
see  fires  at  a  distance  which  he  could  not 
enjoy;  water  which  he  cannot  procure  to 
quench  his  thirst,  and  buffalo  and  deer 
which  he  cannot  kill  to  appease  his  hunger. 
An  impenetrable  wood,  full  of  wolves, 
panthers  and  serpents  separates  these 
"shrinking  slaves  of  winter"  from  their 
more  fortunate  brethren  in  the  "meadows 
of  ease."  Their  punishment  is  not,  how- 
ever, eternal,  and  according  to  the  different 
shades  of  their  crimes  they  are  sooner  or 
later  emancipated  and  permitted  to  join 
their  friends  in  the  Elysean  fields. 

Their  code  of  morality,  although  short, 
was  comprehensive.  They  held  that  hon- 
esty, bravery,  love  of  truth,  attention  to 
parents,  obedience  to  their  chiefs  and  affec- 
tion for  their  wives  and  children  are  the 
principal  virtues  which  entitle  them  to  the 

place  of  happiness,  while  the  opposite  vices 
15 


ISlfHJ 


m 


condemn  to  that  of  misery.  They  had  a 
curious  tradition  with  respect  to  beavers. 
They  firmly  believed  that  these  animals  were 
a  fallen  race  of  Indians,  who,  in  consequence 
of  their  wickedness,  vexed  the  Good  Spirit, 
and  were  condemned  by  him  to  their  present 
shape;  but  that  in  due  time  they  will  be  re- 
stored to  their  speech,  and  that  they  have 
heard  them  talk  with  each  other,  and  seen 
them  sitting  in  council  on  an  offending 
member. 

The  readers  of  natural  history  are  already 
well  acquainted  with  the  surprising 
sagacity  of  these  wonderful  ani- 
mals, now  fast  disappearing  from 
our  waters;  with  their  dexterity  in  cutting 
down  trees,  their  skill  in  constructing  their 
houses,  and  their  foresight  in  collecting  and 
storing  provisions  sufficient  to  last  them 
during  the  winter  months,  but  few  are  aware 
of  a  remarkable  custom  among  them,  which, 
more  than  any  other,  confirms  the  Indians 
in  believing  them  a  fallen  race.  Towards 
the  latter  end  of  autumn,  a  certain  number, 
varying  from  twenty  to  thirty,  assemble  for 
the  purpose  of  building  their  winter  habita- 
tions. They  immediately  commence  cutting 
down  trees;  and  nothing  can  be  more  won- 
derful than  the  skill  and  patience  which 
they  manifest  in  this  laborious  undertaking; 
to  see  them  anxiously  looking  up  watching 
the  leaning  of  the  tree  when  the  trunk  is 
nearly  severed,  and,  when  its  creaking  an- 
nounces its  approaching  fall,  to  ob- 
serve them  scampering  off  in  all 
directions  to  avoid  being  crushed 
When  the  tree  is  prostrate  they  quickly  strip 
it  of  its  branches,  after  which  with  their 
dental  onisels  they  divide  the  trunk  into  sev- 
eral pieces  of  equal  lengths  which  they  roll 

16 


OF  THE 

UNIVERSITY  J 

OF 


2 
P" 


CO    I 

5    f" 

o  > 


|£  CQ 


to  the  rivulet  across  which  they  intent  to 
erect  their  houses.  Two  or  three  old  ones 
generally  superintend  the  others;  and  it  is 
no  unusual  sight  to  see  them  beating  those 
who  exhibit  any  symptoms  of  laziness. 
Should,  however,  any  fellow  be  incorrigible, 
and  persist  in  refusing  to  work,  he  is  driven 
unanimously  by  the  whole  tribe  to  seek 
shelter  and  provisions  elsewhere.  These 
outlaws  are  therefore  obliged  to  pass  a  mis- 
erable winter,  half  starved  in  a  burrow  on 
the  banks  of  some  stream  where  they  are 
easily  trapped.  The  Indians  call  them  "lazy 
beaver,"  and  their  fur  is  not  half  so  valua- 
ble as  that  of  the  other  animals,  whose  per- 
severing industry  secure  them  provisions 
and  a  comfortable  shelter  during  the  sever- 
ity of  winter. 

Even  in  those  early  times  the  hunters  and 
'  trappers  could  not  discover  why  the  Black- 
feet  and  Flatheads  received  their  respective 
designations,  for  the  feet  of  the  former  are 
no  more  inclined  to  sable  than  any  other 
part  of  the  body,  while  the  heads  of  the 
latter  possess  their  fair  proportion  of  ro- 
tundity. Indeed  it  is  only  below  the  falls 
and  rapids  that  real  Flatheads  appear,  and 
at  the  mouth  of  the  Columbia  that  they 
flourish  most  supernaturally. 

The  tribes  who  practice  the  custom  of 
flattening  the  head,  and  who  lived  at  the 
mouth  of  the  Columbia,  differed  little  from 
each  other  in  laws,  manners  or  customs,  and 
were  composed  of  the  Cathlamahs,  Kill- 
mucks,  Clateops,  Chinooks  and  Chilts.  The 
abominable  custom  of  flattening  their  heads 
prevails  among  them  all.  Immediately 
after  birth,  wrote  Mr.  Cox,  in  1814,  the  in- 
fant is  placed  in  a  kind  of  oblong  cradle 

formed  like  a  trough,  with  moss  under  it. 
2  17 


LSI  p] 


raJisi 


1 


One  end,  on  which  the  head  reposes,  is  more 
elevated  than  the  rest.  A  padding  is  then 
pressed  upon  the  forehead,  with  a  piece  of 
cedar  bark  over  it,  and  by  means  of  cords 
passed  through  small  holes  in  each  side  of 
the  cradle,  the  padding  is  pressed  against  the 
head.  It  is  kept  in  this  manner  upwards  of 
a  year,  and  is  not,  I  believe,  attended  with 
much  pain.  The  appearance  of  the 
infant,  however,  while  in  this  state 
of  compression  is  frightful,  and  its  little 
black  eyes,  forced  out  by  the  tightness  of 
the  bandages,  resemble  those  of  a  mouse 
choked  in  a  trap.  When  released  from  this 
inhuman  process  the  head  is  perfectly  flat- 
tened, and  the  upper  part  of  it  seldom  ex- 
ceeds an  inch  in  thickness.  It  never  after- 
wards recovers  its  rotundity.  They  deem 
this  an  essential  point  of  beauty,  and  the 
most  devoted  adherent  of  Charles  I.  never 
entertained  a  stronger  aversion  to  a  Round- 
head than  these  savages.  Dr.  Swan,  in  ex- 
amining some  skulls  take  a  to  England,  con- 
fessed that  nothing  short  of  ocular  demon- 
stration could  have  convinced  him  of  the 
possibility  of  moulding  the  human  head 
into  such  a  form. 

They  allege,  as  an  excuse  for  this  custom, 
that  all  their  slaves  have  round  heads;  and 
accordingly  every  child  of  a  bondsman  who 
is  not  adopted  by  the  tribe  inherits  not  only 
his  father's  degradation  but  his  parental  ro- 
'  tundity  of  cranium.  Why  the  great  Selish 
tribe  of  Montana  were  called  Flatheads  will 
ever  remain  a  mystery.  The  Indians  do 
not  know  by  what  means  they  came  to  be 
called  Flatheads. 

Mr.  Cox  speaks  of  the  marriage,  in  the 
winter  of  1813,  at  their  fort,  at  the  mouth  of 

he  Missoula  river,  of    Piere    Michel,  the 
18 


LSlfHJ 


hunter,  guide  and  interpreter  of  the  expedi- 
tion. As  the  descen dents  of  the  same  Piere 
Michel  are  now  among  the  very  best  Indians 
of  the  Flathead  reservation,  I  shall  give  the 
account  of  the  marriage  as  it  is  probably  the 
earliest  recorded  in  the  annals  of  Montana. 
It  appears  Michel  accompanied  the  Flat- 
heads  on  two  of  their  war  campaigns,  and 
by  his  unerring  aim  and  undaunted  bravery 
won  the  affection  of  the  whole  tribe.  He 
was  the  son  of  a  respectable  Canadian  by  an 
Indian  mother.  The  war  chief  in  particular 
paid  great  attention  to  his  opinion,  and  con- 
sulted him  in  any  difficult  matter.  Michel 
wanted  a  wife;  and  having  succeeded  in 
gaining  the  affection  of  a  handsome  girl 
about  16  years  of  age,  and  niece  to  the  her- 
iditary  chief,  he  made  a  formal  proposal  for 
her.  A  council  was  thereupon  called,  at 
which  her  uncle  presided,  to  take  Michel's 
offer  into  consideration.  One  young  war- 
rior loved  her  and  had  obtained  a  previous 
promise  from  her  mother  that  she  should 
be  his.  He,  therefore,  with  all 
his  relations,  strongly  opposed  her 
union  with  Piere,  and  urged  his  own  claims 
which  had  been  sanctioned  by  her  mother. 
The  war  chief  asked  him  if  she  had  ever 
promised  to  become  his  wife;  he  replied  in 
the  negative.  The  chief  then  addressed  the 
council,  and  particularly  the  lover,  in  favor 
of  Michel's  suit;  pointing  out  the  great  ser- 
vice he  had  rendered  the  tribe  by  his  bravery 
and  dwelling  strongly  on  the  policy  of  unit- 
ing him  more  firmly  to  their  interests  by 
consenting  to  the  proposed  marriage,  which 
he  said  would  forever  make  him  as  one  of 
their  brothers.  His  influence  predominated, 
and  the  unsuccessful  rival  immediately  after 

shook  hands  with  Michel  and  told  the  young 
19 


fsJisi 


woman,  as  he  could  not  be  her  husband,  he 
hoped  she  would  always  regard  him  as  her 
brother.  This  she  readily  promised  to  do, 
and  so  ended  the  opposition.  The  happy 
Piere  presented  a  gun  to  her  uncle.some  cloth, 
calico,  and  ornaments  to  her  female  relatives; 
with  a  pistol  and  handsome  dagger  to  his 
friend.  He  proceeded  in  the  evening  to  the 
chiefs  lodge,  where  a  number  of  her  friends 
had  assembled  to  smoke.  Here  she  re- 
ceived a  lecture  from  the  old  man,  her 
mother  and  a  few  other  ancients  on  her 
duty  as  a  wife  and  mother.  They  strongly 
exhorted  her  to  be  chase,  obedient,  indus- 
trious and  silent;  and  when  absent  with 
herhuBband  among  her  tribes  always  to 
stay  at  ho'me,  and  have  no  intercourse  with 
strange  Indians.  She  then  retired  with  the 
old  woman  to  an  adjoining  hut,  where  she 
underwent  an  ablution  and  bade  adieu  to 
her  buckskin  chemise,  the  place  of  which 
was  supplied  by  one  of  gingham,  to  which 
was  added  a  calico  and  green  cloth  petticoat 
and  a  gown  of  blue  cloth.  After  this  was 
over  she  was  conducted  back  to  her  uncle's 
lodge,  where  she  received  farther  advice 
as  to  her  future  conduct.  A 
procession  was  then  formed  by  the  two 
chiefs,  and  several  warriors  carrying  blazing 
torches  of  pitch  pine,  to  escort  the  bride  and 
her  busband  to  the  fort.  They  began  sing- 
ing war  songs  in  praise  of  Michel's  bravery, 
and  of  their  triumph  over  the  Blackfeet. 
She  was  surrounded  by  a  group  of  young 
and  old  women,  some  of  whom  were  rejoic- 
ing and  others  crying.  The  men  moved  on 
first  in  a  slow,  solemn  pace,  still  chanting 
their  war  song.  The  women  followed  at  a 
short  distance,  and  when  the  whole  party 

arrived  in  front  of  the  fort  they  formed  a  cir- 
£) 


cleand  commenced  dancing  and  singing, 
which  they  kept  up  about  twenty  minutes. 
After  this  the  calumet  of  peace  went  around 
once  more,  and  when  the  smoke  of  the  last 
whiffs  had  disappeared,  Michel  shook  hands 
with  his  late  rival,  embraced  the  chiefs  and 
conducted  his  bride  to  his  room.  Michel 
was  the  only  person  of  the  party  to  whom 
the  Flatheads  would  give  one  of  their 
women  in  marriage. 

On  the  4th  of  April,  1814,  Mr.  Cox  and  his 
party  took  leave  of  the  fort  and  the  Flathead 
camp  at  the  mouth  of  the  Missoula  river,  on 
their  way  to  Spokane  house,  while  they  pro- 
ceeded to  make  preparations  for  the  ensuing 
summer's  campaign  in  the  fur  business.  On 
the  15th  they  arrived  at  Spokane  house,  and 
as  the  site  of  that  ancient  fur  trading  post  is 
now  in  the  heart  of  the  booming  city  of  Spo- 
kane, in  Washington  territory,  I  cannot  re- 
frain from  copying  the  subjoined  letter, 
written  by  McGillivray  from  Okanagan,  in 
the  same  territory,  at  which  place  he  had 
wintered,  but  for  want  of  conveyance  could 
not  be  forwarded  to  the  fort  at  the  mouth  of 
the  Missoula  river.  Although  accustomed  to 
the  style  of  living  on  the  eastern  side  of  the 
mountains  and  well  acquainted  with  In- 
dians, this  was  his  first  winter  on  the  Co- 
lumbia, and  for  information  of  the  hatred  of 
those  Englishmen,  engaged  undei  the  name 
of  "American  Fur  company,"  to  everything 
American,  I  shall  give  an  extract  from  one 
of  his  letters: 

OAKINAGAN,  Feb.,  1814. 

"This  is  a  horrible  dull  place.  Here  I 
have  been  since  you  parted  from  us,  perfectly 
solus.  My  men,  half  Canadians  and  half 
Sandwich  Islanders.  The  library  is  wretched 

and  no  chance  of  my  own  books  till  next 
21 


m 


year,  when  the  Athalasca  men  cross  the  pgjg 

mountains.  If  you,  or  my  friends  at  Spo- 
kane, do  not  send  me  a  few  volumes  I  shall 
absolutely  die  of  ennui.  The  Indians  here 
are  incontestably  the  most  indolent  rascals  I 
ever  met,  and  I  assure  it  requires  no  small 
degree  of  authority,  with  the  few  men  I 
have,  to  keep  them  in  order. 

The  snow  is  between  two  and  three  feet 
deep,  and  my  trio  of  Owhyee  generals  find  a 
sensible  difference  between  such  hyperbo- 
rean weather  and  the  pleasing  sunshine  of 
their  own  tropical  paradise.  Poor  fellows! 
They  are  not  adapted  for  these  latitudes,  and 
I  heartily  wish  they  were  at  home  in  their 
own  sweet  islands,  and  sporting  in  the  'blue 
summer  ocean'  that  surrounds  them.  I 
have  not  as  yet  made  a  pack  of  beaver.  The 
lazy  Indians  won't  work. 

I  have  hitherto  principally  subsisted  on 
horseflesh.  I  cannot  say  it  agrees  with  me. 

I  have  had  plenty  of  pork,  rice,  arrowroot, 
flour,  taroroot,  tea  and  coffee;  no  sugar. 
With  such  a  variety  you  will  say  I  ought 
not  to  complain,  but  want  of  society  has  de- 
stroyed my  relish  for  luxuries,  and  the  only 
articles  I  taste  above  par  are  souching  and 
molasses.  What  a  contrast  between  the 
manner  I  spent  last  year  and  this!  In  the 
first,  with  all  the  pride  of  a  newly  created 
subaltern,  occasionally  fighting  the  Yankees 
"a  la  mode  du  pays,"  and  anon  sporting  my 
silver  wings  before  some  admiring  "pay-  JEllS 

sanne"  along  the  frontiers.  Then  what  a 
glorious  winter  in  Montreal,  with  captured 
Jonathans,  triumphant  Britons,  astonished 
Indians,  gaping  "habitants,"  agitated  beau- 
ties, balls,  routs,  dinners,  suppers,  parades, 
drums  beating,  colors  flying,  with  all  other 

pride,  pomp  and  circumstances  of  glorious 

22 


L5i 


war!  But  Othello's  occupation  is  gone!  and 
here  I  am  with  a  shivering  guard  of  poor 
islanders,  buried  in  snow,  sipping  molasses, 
smoking  tobacco,  and  masticating  horse 
flesh. 

ST.  MARY'S  MISSION, 

situated  in  the  valley  of  the  Bitter  Root,  in 
Missoula  county,  Montana  territory,  was  es- 
tablished by  Catholic  missionaries  belong- 
ing to  the  Society  of  Jesus;  among  the  Flat- 
head  Indians,  who  made  their  home  in  that 
lovely  and  picturesque  valley  in  the  year 
1841.  These  Indians,  whose  heads  are  not  at 
all  flattened,  as  the  name  given  to  them  by 
some  misinformed  traveler  might  be  in- 
terred were  living  a  nomadic  life  before  the 
missionaries  came  among  them,  and  were 
brave  in  war  with  other  tribes  of  Indians 
who  were  their  enemies.  The  Flatheads 
have  always  been  friendly  to  the  white  race, 
and  until  this  date  it  is  their  proud  boast 
that  the  blood  of  a  white  man  never  stained 
the  hand  of  a  Flathead  Indian!  Though 
addicted  to  some  superstitious  practices 
common  to  Indians  of  all  Bribes,  they  had 
learned  religious  observances  from  Iriquois 
Indians,  who  in  their  hunting  and  trapping 
excursions  had  penetrated  into  the  Bitter 
Root  valley  from  their  homes  in 
the  British  possessions,  where  some  of 
them  intermarried  with  the  Flat- 
heads  and  remarried  with  that  tribe. 
The  Flatheads  hearing  the  Iriquois  teach- 
ing the  Catholic  religion  and  prayers  to  their 
children,  which  had  been  inculcated  and 
taught  to  the  latter  by  the  Jesuit  Fathers, 
in  their  far  off  homes,  where  that  self  sacri- 
ficing order  had  sought  the  Iriquois  in  their 
lairs  and  taught  and  converted  them  to  the 
Catholic  faith  years  before  their  advent 


among  the  Flathead  Indians.  A  great  de- 
sire arose  in  the  hearts  of  the  Flathead  tribe 
to  learn  more  about  the  word  of  God  and  to 
have  missionaries  among  them  to  instruct 
them  in  religion.  The  Iriquois  advised  a 
delegation  of  Indians  to  be  sent  to  St.  Louis 
to  lay  their  wishes  before  the  black  gowns  as 
the  Jesuit  fathers  were  designated  by  the 
Iriquois.  A  council  of  the  Indians  was 
called  by  their  chief  and  the  proposition  to 
send  to  St.  Louis  for  Catholic  missionaries 
was  fully  dizcussed.  What  an  undertaking 
for  those  wild,  untutored  sons  of  the  Rocky 
Mountains,  none  of  whom  had  ever  seen  a 
white  settlement,  and  encountered 
but  few  white  men  in  their  lives 
—and  those  were  almost  as  wild 
and  untutored  as  the  Indians,  being 
hunters  and  trappers  in  the  employment  of 
the  Hudson  Bay  company.  But  their  en- 
thusiasm was  aroused  and  the  thousands  of 
miles  to  be  traversed  over  trackless  moun- 
tains, treeless  plains,  sandy  deserts,  rocky 
canons  and  deep,  wide  and  rushing  rivers — 
and  their  path  beset  on  every  side  by  impla- 
cable enemies  of  other  tribes  eagerly  watch- 
ing for  an  opportunity  to  waylay  them  with 
the  scalping  knife  and  the  tomahawk.  But 
it  was  possible  that  they  could  reach  St. 
Louis,  and  four  of  them  volunteered  to  un- 
dertake the  lone  and  dangerous  journey. 
They  started  in  the  spring  of  the  year  1836, 
but  they  did  not  come  back,  nor  were  they 
ever  heard  from.  Whether  killed  while 
passing  through  the  roaming  places  of  their 
enemies  or  died  of  sickness  or  fatigue  on 
their  wearisome  journey  has  never  been 
known. 

The  next  year,  1837,  three  Flatheads,  aNez 
Perces  Indian  and  an  Iropuois,  the  latter  the 


IsTfHJ 


m 


falsj 


father  of  Francois,  a  worthy  and  wealthy 
Indian,  who  at  this  date  is  still  a  resident  of 
Bitter  Root  valley  and  is  well  and  favorably 
known  by  the  settlers,  started  fof  St.  Louis 
on  a  similar  errand,  but  were  all  killed  by 
the  Sioux  in  Ash  Hollow,  on  the  South 
Platte.  When  the  delegation  reached  Fort 
Laramie,  they  were  joined  by  W.  H.  Gray, 
who  afterwards  wrote  a  history  of  Oregon, 
who  is  yet  a  hale  and  hearty  old  man  and 
an  honored  citizen  of  Astoria,  Oregon.  Mr. 
Gray  was  on  \  his  way  from  Astoria  to  Mon- 
treal, with  a  party  of  voyagers,  having 
in  charge  a  boy  by  the  name  of 
Ermintinger,  whose  mother  was  a  squaw, 
and  whose  father  was  one  of  the  principal 
managers  of  the  Northwest  Fur  Company's 
post  at  Astoria.  The  father  was  sending  his 
boy  back  to  Montreal  in  charge  of  Mr.  Gray 
for  the  purpose  of  sending  him  to  school. 
The  Flathead  delegation  journeyed  on  with 
this  party,  but  were  met,  as  stated,  in  Ash 
Hollow  by  a  war  party  of  Sioux,  who  de- 
manded of  Gray  to  what  tribe  the  Indians 
belonged  whe  were  journeying  through 
their  country  with  him.  Mr.  Gray,  know- 
ing that  the  Flatheads  and  Sioux  were  at 
war  with  each  other,  in  order  to  save  their 
lives,  replied  that  they  were  Snake  Indians. 
The  war  chief  then  told  Gray  to  get  out  of 
the  way  with  his  white  companions, 
as  it  was  his  intention  to  slay  the 
Indians  whom  he  said  were  Snakss,  as 
they  were  the  enemies  of  the  Sioux. 
The  father  of  Francois.the  Iroquois,who  was 
dressed  like  a  white  man,  was  told  by  the 
Sioux  warrior  to  get  out  of  the  way  with 
Gray  and  his  companions,  as  they  did  not 
want  to  kill  him.  But  the  brave  and  gener- 
ous Iriquois  replied  that  he  was  willing  to 
take  chance j  with  his  companions,  and  all 


ISlfHJ 


prepared  for  resistence.  Of  course  the  whole 
party  of  Flatheads,  including  the  Iriquois, 
and  the  Nez  Perces  Indians  were  slain  and 
scalped  after  a  desperate  fight,  in  which  Mr. 
Gray,  young  Ermintinger,  and  others  of 
Gray's  party,  took  a  hand  in  defense  of  the 
Flatheads.  Gray  was  shot  in  the  forehead, 
and  exhibited  the  bullet  wound  to  the 
writer  in  the  winter  of  1883,  while 
on  his  way  east  with  the  Oregon 
pioneers,  over  the  Northern  Pacific 
railroad.  The  Sioux  warriors  contented 
themselves  by  making  prisonerg,of  Gray's 
party,  whom  they  kept  in  capavity  for  a 
short  time  with  view  of  putting  them  all 
to  death,  as  several  Sioux  were  killed  in  the 
fight,  and  the  son  of  the  chief  fell  by  the 
hand  of  Gray.  Better  council  prevailed, 
however,  and  Mr.  Gray  and  his  compan- 
ions were  permitted  to  depart,  and,  as  stated 
before,  that  gentleman  is  still  a  citizen  of 
Astoria  and  wrote  and  published  a  history 
of  Oregon.  News  reached  the  Flatheads  of 
the  tragic  death  of  their  delegation  at  the 
hands  of  the  Sioux  warriors.  But 
this  did  not  deter  the  Flatheads,  and 
their  yearnings  to  know  more  of  the 
white  man's  God  and  religion,  but  only  in- 
creased by  the  dangers  which  lay  between 
them  and  the  knowledge  for  which  they 
thirsted.  In  1839,  two  young  Iroquois  an- 
nounced in  council  of  the  Flatheads,  that 
notwithstanding  the  fate  of  the  two  previous 
delegations  who  had  set  out  for  St.  Louis, 
they  were  ready  to  repeat  the  trial  and  con- 
duct Catholic  missionaries  to  the  tribe. 
Soon  after  this  offer,  it  was  learned  that  a 
party  of  Hudson  Bay  employes  were  going 
to  make  the  voyage  in  canoes  from  the  head 
waters  of  the  Missouri  to  St.  Louis,  and  the 


@1 


L51JHJ 


young  Iroquois  made  application  to  accom- 
pany them  and  were  accepted.  In  that 
same  year  the  Indians  arrived  at 
St.  Louis,  and  held  audience  with 
the  Catholic  bishop  of  that  city 
the  Right  Reverend  Rosati.  The  bishop 
had  a  scarcity  of  clergymen  in  his  newly 
formed  diocese,  but  offered  the  Jesui^ 
fathers  the  new  mission,  and  the  superior  of 
that  order  accepted  the  offer  of  Father  De 
Smet  to  accompany  the  Indians  back  to  the 
Rocky  mountains. 

In  the  spring  of  1840  one  of  the  Iroquois 
who  made  the  voyage  to  St.  Louis,  suddenly 
arrived  in  the  Flathead  camp  on  Eight  Mile 
creek,  in  the  Bitter  Root  valley,  and  an- 
nounced that  his  companion  and  a  black 
gown  (Father  De  Smet)  were  coming  with  a 
party  of  the  Hudson  Bay  Fur  company's 
men.  Upon  this  announcement  the 
chief  ordered  ten  of  his  war- 
riors to  proceed  ahead  without 
delay  and  conduct  the  missionary  to  the 
Flathead  camp,  the  chief  following  with  the 
whole  tribe.  Father  DeSmet  was  met  by 
the  advance  warriors  near  Green  river,  and 
under  their  guide  he  travelled  on  to  the 
head  waters  of  the  Snake  river,  where  he 
met  the  Flathead  chief  and  his  main  camp 
of  followers.  The  father  remained  at  their 
camp  some  time,  and  satisfied  himself  of 
the  earnestness  and  good  disposition  of  the 
Indians,  decided  to  go  back  to  civilization 
to  report  to^his  superiors  and  ask  for  assist- 
ance. He  traveled  with  the  Indian  camp  to 
the  three  forks  of  the  Missouri,  and  from 
thence  he  was  guided  by  a  few  warriors  to 
the  next  trading  post,  and  from  thence  the 
intrepid  missionary  made  his  way  back  to 

St.  Louis. 

27 


ISlfEl 


In  the  spring  of  1841,  Father  De  Smet  and 
three  brothers  of  the  Society  of  Jesus,  and 
two  fathers  of  the  same  order,  returned  to 
the  wilds  of  the  Rocky  mountains.  The  six 
were  of  divers  nationalities.  Father  De 
Smet  and  two  of  the  lay  brothers  were 
Flemish;  the  other  two  fathers  belonged  one 
to  Italy,  the  other  to  France.  The  third 
brother  was  a  Frenchman.  This  band  of 
missionaries  traveled  from  St.  Louis  over- 
land, accompanied  by  a  hunter  named  John 
Gray,  who  was  married  to  an  Indian  woman, 
two  Canadians  and  an  Irishman  named 
Fitzpatrick,  acting  as  guide,  and  driving 
four  carts  and  a  wagon.  With  railroads  now 
sweeping  acr.  ss  the  vast  prairies  of  Dakota, 
Nebraska,  and  through  the  wild  gorges  of 
the  Rocky  mountains  into  Montana,  few 
can  appreciate  the  boldness  and 
trepidity  of  this  little  band  of  Catholic 
missionaries,  who,  leaving  civilization 
behind,  plunged  into  a  pathless  wilderness 
and  journeyed  thousands  of  miles  through 
the  country  of  hostile  savages,  some  of 
whom  never  before  beheld  the  face  of  a 
white  man.  It  was  a  long,  tedious  and  dan- 
gerous trip,  but  having  been  undertaken  for 
the  charitable  and  supernatural  motive  of 
civilizing  and  christianizing  the  savages  of 
the  forests  of  the  Rocky  Mountains,  all  dif- 
ficulties were  overcome,  all  dangers  over- 
looked and  all  fatigues  joyfully  borne. 

When  near  Fort  Bridger  the  travelers  sent 
their  hunter,  John  Gray,  ahead,  who  met 
ten  lodges  of  Indians  and  trappers,  and  told 
them  that  the  imporiaries  were  coming,  and 
besought  them  to  go  and  meet  them.  The 
Indians  and  hunters  started  toward  Green 
river  and  after  three  days  traveling,  while 
camped  about  five  miles  from  Green  river, 


another  messenger  arrived  at  the  camp 
and  announced  to  them  that  Father 
DeSmet,  with  his  companions,  would 
arrive  next  day,  and  requested  that  the  chief 
trapper,  Gabriel  Pradhomme,  and  an  Iro- 
quois  Indian,  who  was  in  the  camp,  should 
go  that  same  evening  to  meet  the  toil  worn 
missionaries.  On  the  next  day  the  traveling 
party  were  conducted  to  the  hunter's  camp, 
where  they  were  welcomed  with  that  roueh 
enthusiasm  and  rude  hospitality  born  of  the 
forest.  Having  rested  and  refreshed  them- 
selves, two  of  the  hunters  volunteered  to  go 
and  find  the  Flathead  camp,  and  get  fresh 
horses  to  carry  the  fathers'  baggage  and  pro- 
visions, their  stock  being  worn  out.  In  the 
meantime  the  missionaries,  being  almost  out 
of  provisions,  Father  De  Smet.  with  an  Iro- 
quoi?  Indian,  started  for  Fort  Hall,  on  Snake 
rivei,  and  the  other  missionaries  and  the  ten 
lodges  followed  them  slowly.  At  Fort  Hall 
they  were,  after  a  few  days,  joined  by  Gabriel 
Pradhomme,  who  with  some  young  Indians 
had  driven  in  fresh  horses  for  the  fathers 
use.  The  whole  party  then  started  from 
Fo  "Wall  tc  meet  the  Flathead  Indians,  and 
they  were  found  at  the  head  of  Beaverhead 
river,  the  largest  tributary  of  the  head- 
waters of  the  Missouri,  and  sweeps  through 
a  portion  of  what  is  now  known  as  Beaver- 
head  county,  in  Montana  territory.  The 
Indians  received  the  Catholic  fathers  with 
every  mark  of  respect  and  gratitude,  and 
after  remaining  in  camp  for  a  few  days  they 
divided,  some  lodges  accompanying  the  mis- 
sionaries to  the  Bitter  Root  valley  and  the 
other  Indians  went  in  for  their  annual 
buffalo  hunt  to  the  Musselshell  river  and 
the  Judith  basin,  promising  to  be  back  to 

the  Bitter  Root  valley  in  the  fall.  Traveling 
29 


with  the  Flathead  Indians  the  missionaries 
did  not  lose  their  time,  but  applied  them- 
selves to  the  acquirement  of  the  Indian  lan- 
guage. 

Arriving  at  Bitter  Root  valley  in  Septem- 
ber, 1841,  they  set  at  work  to  instruct  the 
Indians,  whom  they  found  so  well  disposed, 
to  embrace  the  Catholic  faith.  A  church 
wa3  erected  and  also  a  few  rude  log  huts  for 
the  accommodation  of  the  missionaries. 
This  first  settlement  was  built  on  the  banks 
of  the  Bitter  Root  river,  just  southwes*  of 
Fort  Owen,  where  Stevensville  now  stands, 
which  never  was  a  military  post,  but  was 
built  and  used  as  an  Indian  trading  post 
after  the  settlement  of  the  missionaries,  by 
Major  Owen. 

In  the  meanwhile  Father  De  Smet,  with 
the  same  Iriquois  Indians  who  accompanied 
him  on  his  wearisome  journey  from  St. 
Louis,  and  Francois  Lumpre,  a  Canadian 
Frenchman,  who  at  this  date  is  still  living 
in  the  Bitter  Root  valley,  and  has  a  farm 
about  two  miles  west  of  the  town  ot  Stevens- 
ville, so  called  after  Governor  Stevens,  who 
made  a  treaty  with  the  Flathead  In- 
dians, started  for  Fort  Colville,  situated 
on  the  Columbia  river,  and  now  in  Wash- 
ington territory,  where  the  English  Hudson 
Bay  company  had  a  trading  post,  and  at 
that  time  all  the  vast  territory  from  the  Co- 
lumbia to  Fort  Hall  on  Snake  river,  now 
braced  in  the  territories  of  Washington, 
Montana  and  Idaho,  was  claimed  by  that 
company  as  their  territory  and  lying  in 
British  possessions.  But  the  international 
boundary  survey,  several  years  afterwards, 
settled  the  question  by  giving  the  territory 
then  in  dispute  to  the  United  States.  Father 
De  Smet  and  his  comoanies  set  out  on  this 


re]  [si 


a  LSI 


SJfHJ 

i 


long  journey  of  over  three  hundred 
miles  from  the  Bitter  Root  valley  to  the 
trading  post  on  the  Columbia,  through  a 
savage  Indian  country,  untrodden  save  by 
Indians  and  trappers  in  the  employ  of  the 
Hudson  Bay  company  and  American  Fur 
company,  to  buy  seed  for  the  Indians  and 
missionaries  to  sow  the  following  spring  in 
the  Bitter  Root  valley. 

The  Flathead  Indians  faithful  to 
their  promise  came  back  from  their  summer 
|  hunt  in  the  fall.  On  the  3d  day  of  December, 
j  1841,  about  one-third  of  the  Flathead  tribe 
!  were  baptized  into  the  Catholic  faith,  and 
the  others  who  were  under  religious  instruc- 
tions were  received  into  the  fold  on  Christ- 
mas day  of  that  same  year.  So  in  a  short 
space  of  time  a  new  Christianity — the  Flat- 
head  tribe  at  that  time  numbering  about  one 
thousand — was  founded,  and  the  mission- 
aries were  well  pleased  with  the  fervor  of 
their  new  converts.  The  mission  was  called 
St.  Mary's,  as  was  called  the  river,  and  the 
towering  snow  clad  peak  in  the  range  oppo- 
site the  mission. 

The  following  spring  of  1842  the  fathers 
sowed  the  first  grain  brought  to  the  Bitter 
Root  valley,  by  Father  De  Smet  from  Fort 
Colville,  and  planted  some  potatoes.  The 
first  year  the  crop  of  both  yielded  rich,  to 
the  great  enjoyment  and  delight  of  the  In- 
dians, who  learned  for  the  first  time  how  to 
till  the  soil  and  force  it  to  yield  a  manifold 
crop. 

Although  the  missionaries  now  had  wheat 
they  had  no  mill  to  grind  it,  so  they  were 
obliged  for  the  first  years  either  to  boil  the 
wheat  or  to  pound  it  with  rocks,  and  be 
satisfied  with  the  bread  made  out  of  that 
coarse  flour.  Their  principal  food  was 


IsiraJ 


buffalo  meat,  which  they  procured  from  the 
Indians,  and  there  were  many  times  when 
they  were  glad  to  share  the  Indian  roots  and 
camas.  Under  the  direction  of  the  fathers, 
a  fe  N  Indians  built  log  houses  close  to  the 
mission  buildings.  To  protect  themselves 
from  the  Blackfeet  Indians,  who  at  that 
time  were  coming  into  the  valley  in  small 
war  parties  to  steal  horses  and  kill  if  an  op- 
portunity offered  itself,  the  fathers  had  a 
palisade  built  around  the  premises,  forming 
a  large  yard,  where  in  time  of 
danger  the  Indians  were  allowed 
to  drive  their  horses  at  night 
and  guard  them.  Twice  a  year  it  was  the 
custom  among  the  Indians  to  go  a  long  dis- 
tance hunting  buffalo,  leaving  at  home  only 
the  old  people  and  children;  at  such  times 
the  danger  was  very  great,  and  the  fathers 
had  to  guard  against  surprise.  At  the  corn- 
men  cement  of  the  mission  one  of  the  fath- 
ers accompanied  the  hunters  in  their  excur- 
sions, when  tLey  went  out  in  a  body,  but 
they  soon  found  this  to  be  impracticable, 
and  had  to  give  up  the  good  they  could 
have  done  by  following  the  camp,  chiefly  in 
instructing  the  Indian  children  at  the  mis- 
sion. To  follow  the  war  and  hunting  par- 
ties of  the  Flatheads  was  a  delicate  position 
for  the  fathers;  because,  in  case  of  any  war 
with  their  enemies,  and  having  taken  pris- 
oners, through  deference  to  the  father,  the 
warriors  would  appeal  for  his  advice  as  to 
how  to  deal  with  them  and  natur- 
ally his  advice  would  incline  to 
mercy,  a  quality  seldom  or  never  shown 
by  an  Indian  to  an  enemy,  and  any  exhibi- 
tion of  humanity  towards  a  prisoner  would 
give  them  the  suspicion  that  the  father  was 
a  friend  of  their  enemy.  Besides,  the  wild 


FATHER    RAVALLI. 


excitement  of  the  buffalo  Hunt  reigned  su- 
preme in  the  Indian  camp  while  on  their 
hunting  grounds,  and  very  little  room  was 
left  in  their  light  and  giddy  heads  for  the 
dry  lessons  of  the  gospel.  For  this  reason 
the  fathers  had  to  content  themselves  in- 
structing the  Indians  when  they  could  gather 
them  at  the  mission. 

In  the  spring  of  1842  Father  De  Smet  went 
to  Europe  to  ask  for  more  missionaries  and 
for  material  aid,  and  in  the  fall  of  that  year 
the  French  father,  with  a  lay  brother,  was 
sent  from  Bitter  Root  to  found  the  Cceur 
d'Alene  mission,  in  the  Coeur  d'Alene  moun- 
tains, and  for  some  time  there  was  only  one 
father  left  among  the  Flatheads,  Father 
Menjarini,  who  is  now  living  and  stationed 
at  Santa  Clara  college,  California. 

But  in  the  spring  of  1843  there  came  to  St. 
Mary's  from  St.  Louis  two  more  fathers  and 
three  lay  brothers,  but  one  of  them,  Father 
Heken,  started  in  the  fall  of  the  same  year 
with  a  brother  for  the  new  mission  among 
the  Co3iir  d'Alenes,  and  was  sent  from  there 
the  next  spring  to  open  another  mission 
among  the  lower  Pen  d'Oreilles.  Meanwhile 
Father  DeSmet  was  not  idle.  In  his  voyage 
to  Europe  ne  had  obtained  from  the  superior 
of  the  society  three  Italian  fathers,  among 
whom  Father  Anthony  Ravalli,  that  won- 
derful man,  who  died  at  the  St.  Mary's  mis- 
sion, Stevensville,  Missoula  county,  Mon- 
tana, on  the  2d  day  of  ,  1884,  in  the 
73d  year  of  his  age.  The  pen  of  the  histor- 
ian and  biographer,  the  brush  of  the  artist, 
and  the  chisel  of  the  sculptor  have  already 
combined  to  preserve  his  blessed  memory 
for  all  time,  emblazoned  in  history,  in  poetry 
and  romance  and  preserved  in  imperishable 

marble. 

3  83 


The  three  Italian  fathers,  including  Father 
Ravalli,  in  company  with  Father  De  Smet, 
two  lay  brothers  from  Belgium  and  six 
sisters  from  Notre  Dame,  embarked  at  Ames 
in  a  Norwegian  vessel.  Rounding  Cape 
Horn,  they  touched  Valparaiso  and  Callao, 
crossed  the  treacherous  bar  at  the  mouth  of 
the  Columbia,  July  31st,  1844.  and  on  the 
next  day  landed  at  Fort  Vancouver,  whence 
after  a  few  days'  rest  they  ascended  to  St. 
Paul's  prairie,  on  the  Willammette.  The 
great  city  of  Portland,  Oregon,  was  then  al- 
most a  wilderness.  In  the  spring  of  1845, 
Father  Ravalli  was  sent  among  the  Kalis- 
pels,  or  Pend  d'Oreilles,  where  he  learned 
the  wonderful  secret  of  living  without  the 
necessaries  of  life,  as  the  other  fathers  who 
preceded  him  had  been  doing.  The  father's 
bill  of  fare  was  principally  dried  buf- 
falo meat  and  roots  and  berries. 
The  acquisition  of  Father  Ravalli 
at  St.  Mary's  mission  was  a  boon,  and 
a  blessing  as  he  had  studied  medicine  under 
some  of  the  ablest  physicians  of  Rome;  and 
makijg  himself  an  apprentice  also  in  the 
artist's  studio  and  mechanic's  shop,  he 
could  handle  witn  skill  the  chisel  and  brush 
of  the  artist  as  well  as  the  tools  and  imple- 
ments of  almost  every  trade.  It  was  princi- 
pally to  his  skillfulness  that  the  first  grist 
mill  and  sawmill  was  put  up  in  Montana, 
and  run  by  water  power.  Father  De  Smet 
brought  with  him  from  Belgium  two  fif- 
teen-inch millstones,  which  were  intended 
to  be  worked  by  hand  power  but  water  was 
utilized  and  a  saw  and  gristmill  was  set  in 
motion,  the  machinery  of  which  having 
been  constructed  out  of  old  wagon  tires,  and 
the  saw  was  made  out  of  an  old  pit  saw  by 
filing  to  the  proper  shape  the  teeth.  The 


OF  THE 

UNIVERSITY 

OF 


capacity  of  the  gristmill  was  about  eight 
bushels  a  day.  The  process  was  slow,  but 
bread  could  now  be  made  from  the  wheat 
raised  by  the  missionaries  and  the  Indians. 
Everything  was  now  in  a  flourishing  con- 
dition at  St.  Mary's  mission,  and  the  good 
fathers  were  beginning  to  congratulate 
themselves  upon  the  success  of  their  great 
and  fearless  undertaking,  until  the  evil  in- 
fluence and  jealonsies  of  the  trappers  and 
traders  in  furs,  who  followed  the  Indian 
hunting  parties  and  haunted  their  settle- 
ments and  villages,  began  to  make  itself  felt. 
Those  men  —licentious,  immoral  and  impure 
generally,  who  accepted  from  the  great  fur 
companies  of  the  west,  situations  as  trap- 
pess,  hunters,  etc.,  lead  wild  and  desolate 
lives,  and  in  their  career  of  debauchery 
among  the  simple  natives.brooked  no  oppo- 
sition, and  looked  with  jealous  eyes  upon 
the  missionaries'  teachings  of  Christianity 
and  virtue,  and  in  the  councils  of  the  Indi- 
ans began  to  sow  the  seed  of  discontent 
against  the  missionaries  for  the  new  order 
of  things,  which  deprived  the  christianized 
Indian  from  as  many  wives  as  he  choose  to 
take  and  in  prohibiting  debauchery  of  the 
Indian  women  by  those  lewd  camp 
followers.  The  talk  of  the  trappers 
against  the  missionaries  began  to  give  trouble 
and  the  Indians  when  leaving  the  Bitter 
Root  valley  on  their  annual  buffalo  hunt, 
left  the  fathers  without  any  protection 
against  the  incursions  of  hostile  tribes,  par- 
ticularly the  Blackfeet,  who  took  every  ad- 
vantage to  harrass^  murder  and  annoy  the 
Flatheads  and  the  missionaries  of  St.  Mary's. 
Left  without  such  protection,  the  Blackfeet, 
once  at  the  very  door  of  the  mission,  killed 

a  half-breed  boy  who  worked  for  the  fathers. 
85 


IsiraJ 


sna 


Being  thus  harrassed  and  annoyed,  in  the 
spring  of  1850,  Father  Mengarim  went  down 
to  Willamette  to  consult  with  the  superior 
of  the  missions.  This  consultation  resulted 
in  an  order  from  the  superior  to  abandon  St. 
Mary's  mission  for  an  indefinite  period, 
hence  the  intrepid  Father  Joset  was  sent  up 
by  the  superior  from  Cour  d'  Alene  mission, 
with  an  escort  of  christianized  Indians  to  re- 
move the  mission  and  the  effects  of  the  mis- 
sionaries. St.  Mary's  mission  at  that 
time  occupied  the  actual  site  of  Fort 
Owen.  Major  Owen,  one  of  the  his- 
oric  characters  of  the  first 
"white  settlers  of  Mantana  arrived  upon  the 
scene,  and  to  him  Father  Joset  sold  for  a 
small  consideration  all  the  improvements  of 
the  mission,  on  condition  as  stated  by  that 
missionarie,  that  if  in  three  years  the  com- 
munity would  come  back,  as  was  their  in 
tention,  they  could  redeem  their  property. 
The  intrepit  Father  Joset,  with  that  great 
and  good  man,  Father  Ravalli,  a  brother 
and  some  Indians,  driving  four  wagons, 
three  cows  and  sixteen  yoke  of  cattle, 
started  for  their  destination.  Major  Owen, 
left  in  possession  of  the  property  of  the 
fathers,  began  to  build  the  actual  fort,  sub- 
stituting the  adobe  which  which  now  stand 
to  the  stockadey^t  Hellgate,  just  below  the 
present  site  OT  Mrssoula,4he  missionaries 
divided,  Father  Ravalli  going  by  the  Coeur 
d' Alene  trail,  now  known  as  the  Mullen 
road,  and  Father  Joset  with  all  the  baggage 
went  by  the  Jocko  valley,  having  been  or- 
dered to  go  down  by  the  Pend  d'Oreille  river; 
he  wintered  that  year  with  his  party 
below  the  mouth  of  the  Jocko,  on  the  Pend 
d'Oreille  river,  near  the  site  of  Antoine 
Revis'  present  home  Assisted  by  the  In- 


L5HZJ 


Rl  151 


la  LSI 


dians,  among  whom  was  the  chief  Victor, 
father  of  the  present  Chief  Charles  of  the 
Bitter  Root  Flatheads,  who  accompanied 
Father  Joset  on  his  journey,  he  set  to  work  to 
build  five  large,  flat  bottomed  boats  to  con- 
vey their  baggage  down  the  treacherous  and 
turbulent  Pend  d'Oreille  river.  It  was  a 
bold  and,  it  must  be  said,  an  unwise  plan; 
but  the  determined  missionary  in  the  spring 
of  the  next  year  launched  his  boats  and 
committed  himself,  baggage  and  party  to 
the  rushing  waters  of  that  swift  and  rapid 
river,  but  the  voyagers  were  destined  to 
wreck  a  raft  near  Horse  Plains  before  they 
proceeded  over  sixty  miles  of  their  journey, 
upon  which  was  loaded  their  wagons,  hand 
cars  and  other  property;  then  at  Thompson 
Falls,  a  few  miles  further  down  the  river, 
two  of  the  boats  were  wrecked  and  all  the 
cargo  lost.  Fortunately  no  lives  were  lost, 
and  after  a  long  journey  through  the 
wilderness,  the  worn  wander- 

ers arrived  at  their  destination 
It  was  not  until  the  fall  of  1854  that  the 
missionaries  came  back;  but  instead  of  re- 
establishing St.  Mary's  mission  again  in  the 
Bitter  Root  valley  they  opened  St.  Ignatius 
mission,  that  now  flourishing  institution  on 
the  Flathead  reservation.  The  location  of 
the  mission  established  among  the  lower 
Calispels  or  Pend  d'Oreilles  in  1844,  on 
Clark's  fork  of  the  Columbia,  was  found 
unfit  for  a  mission  because  of  the  scarcity  of 
arable  land  and  also  because  of  the  extensive 
floods  which  inundated  the  country  in  the 
spring  of  the  year.  Determined  to  abandon 
that  place,  and  looking  for  a  location  where 
they  could  have  more  land,  and  where  they 
could  gather  both  the  lower  and  upper 

Calispels,  they   chose   the   actual  site  of  St. 
37 


.SIR] 


Ignatius,  where  it  now  stands,  a  monument 
to  the  sagacity  and  forethought  of  those 
fathers.  By  such  choice  it  was  thought  the 
central  position  among  the  different  tribe? 
would  concentrate  them  around  St  Ig- 
natius, and  that  the  Flatheads  would 
forsake  the  Bitter  Root  valley  for  a  home 
near  the  new  mission,  and  settle  down 
among  the  Calispels,  as  the  tribes  spoke  the 
same  language  and  were  allied  and  related 
by  intermarriage.  The  founders  of  St.  Igna- 
tius mission  were  Father  Hoken  and  Father 
Minetry,  the  latter  a  venerable  Jesuit  and  at 
this  date  the  parish  priest  of  Missoula.  In 
the  spring  of  1855,  for  the  Easter  festival, 
there  was  gathered  at  the  new  mission  of  St. 
Ignatius  not  less  than  one  thousand  Indians 
of  mixed  tribes—  Calispels,  Flatheads,  Nez 
Perces  and  Kootenais,  and  of  whom  one 
hundred  and  fifty  adults  were  baptized  on 
Christmas  day  of  that  year. 

Very  few  of  the  Flatheads  left  the  Bitter 
Root  valley  to  settle  on  the  Jocko  reserva- 
tion, and  it  was  decided  to  attend  to  their 
spiritual  wants  by  again  re-establishing  St. 
Mary's  mission  at  its  original  locality.  In  the 
fall  of  1866  Father  Geordi,  s.  j.,  with  a  lay 
brother  was  sent  to  Bitter  Root  to  re-open 
the  mission  and  re-established  it  at  its  pres- 
ent locality.  In  1864,  before  the  return  of 
Father  Geordi  to  St.  Mary's,  two  other  mis- 
sionary stations  were  established  in  the 
neighborhood  of  Missoula,  one  near  French- 
town  and  the  other  at  Hell  Gate. 

In  1867  Father  Ravalei,  who,  after  passing 
some  time  at  St.  Peter's  mission,  on  Sun 
River  in  the  Blackfoot  country,  where, 
owing  to  his  great  surgical  skill  and  tender 
nursing,  many  a  poor  frost  bitten  miner 
owed  to  him  life  and  limb  that  were  over- 


OF  THE 

UNIVERSH 

OF 


taken  in  the  great  storm  which  prevailed 
during  the  famous  stampede  from  Helena 
to  Sun  river,  was  ordered  again  to  St.  Mary's. 
Montana  now  having  become  settled  up  to 
some  extent  by  miners  who  nocked  from 
east  and  west  to  her  rich  gold  fields,  Father 
Ravalli,  besides  attending  to  the  Indians 
with  Father  Geordi,  was  kept  constantly 
travelling  from  one  mining  camp  to  another 
in  both  capacities  of  priest  and  physician, 
attending  to  the  spiritual  wants  of  Catholic 
miners  as  well  as  aleviating  the  suffering  of 
sick  and  friendless  men  and  women  who 
followed  the  gold  excitement  to  the  then 
wilds  of  the  Rocky  mountains,  with  his 
wonderful  medical  skill.  There  were 
at  that  time  very  few  physicians  in 
the  country,  and  a  great  many 
accidents  were  constantly  occurring  in  the 
mines  as  well  as  from  fights  and  shooting 
scrapes  among  the  wild  and  lawless.  A 
large  majority  of  those  people  had  no  means 
to  pay  a  doctors  fee;  and  often  Father  Ra- 
valli was  summoned  from  his  quiet  retreat 
at  the  mission  of  St.  Mary's  to  ride  to  dis- 
tant mining  camps— perhaps  two  hundred 
miles  away — to  extract  the  bullets  from  the 
wounds  of  a  desparado,  to  set  limbs  of  an 
unfortunate  miner  caught  in  a  "drift;"  to 
sooth  the  sick  bed  of  a  helpless  woman  or 
her  children;  or  to  administer  the  last  sacra- 
ment to  a  dying  Catholic.  The  good  father 
never  refused  his  help  to  any  man.  to  what- 
ever color,  nation  or  denomination  he  might 
belong,  and  always  obeyed  a  call  either  from 
rich  or  poor,  no  matter  what  the  distance, 
how  rugged  the  trail  or  how  dangerous  the 
undertaking.  For  this  reason  and  for  the 
great  success  he  had  in  his  medical  practice, 
and  for  his  amiable,  genial  and  attractive 


pJisi 


manners  he  became  very  popular  among  all 
classes.  The  miners  particularly  noting  his 
disinterestedness  showed  themselves  very 
generous  toward  him,  and  by  those  means 
he  was  the  principal  support  of  St.  Mary's 
mission. 

In  1869  Father  Georcla  having  been 
elected  provincinal  or  superior  general  of 
all  the  Jesuite  missions  in  the  Rocky  moun- 
tains, and  being  obliged  to  visit  them, 
Father  D'Astie.  S.  J.,  took  his  place  in  the 
Bitter  Root  at  St.  Mary's,  and  with  Father 
Ravalli  attended  to  the  spiritual  wants  of 
the  Flathead  Indians.  That  great  and  good 
man,  Father  Ravalli,  has  passed  away;  but 
Father  D'Astie  still  survives,  and  today  is 
at  his  post  at  St.  Ignatius  mission,  minister- 
ing to  the  wants  and  guiding  the  remnant 
of  that  once  great  tribe  of  Flatheads,  as 
well  as  the  Kootenais  and  Pend  d'Oreilles, 
in  the  ways  of  religion,  civilization  and 
morality.  How  beautiful  is  the  faith  which 
produces  those  valorous  missionaries! 
Armed  with  the  sole  standard  of  the  cross, 
with  no  other  compass  than  obedience,  they 
run  fearlessly  to  their  goal,  which  is  the  at- 
tainment of  God's  great  glory  by  the  salva- 
tion of  souls.  They  wait  but  for  the  oppor- 
tunity of  saving  souls,  to  fly  to  unexplored 
countries,  to  ever-growing  danger  of  death. 
Strangers  to  the  wealth,  the  honors,  the 
pleasures  of  this  world,  disinterested  in  all 
their  undertakings,  they  take  no  other  con- 
solation amid  infuriated  waves,  in  frightful 
solitudes,  in  the  primeval  forest,  than  that 

of  passing  through  them  to  do  good. 
40 


The  Advanced   Ideas  In  Which    Explorer 
Clarke  Found  the  FJatheads. 


The  new  state  of  Montana,  as  well  as  the 
United  States  government,  should  not  forget 
that  they  owe  a  debt  of  gratitude  to  the 
Flathead  Indians  for  the  friendly  welcome 
extended  to  the  early  explorers  and  pioneers 
of  this  country,  which  is  attested  to  by 
Lewis  and  Clarke  in  their  official  reports  to 
President  Jefferson  and  published  so  widely 
both  in  America  and  Europe.  Captains 
Clarke  and  Lewis,  with  their  followers,  as 
before  mentioned,  were  the  first  white  men 
the  Fathead  Indians  ever  beheld.  At  the 
date  of  this  writing,  May  1890,  there  still 
lives  at  St.  Ignatius  mission,  on  the  Flat- 
head  reservation,  an  old  Indian  woman 
named  Ochanee,  who  distinctly  remembers, 
and  relates  in  the  Indian  language 
the  advent  of  those  two  great 
captains,  with  their  followers,  into  the  Flat- 
head  camp  in  the  Bitter  Root  valley,  and 
the  great  astonishment  it  created  among  the 
Indians.  The  explorers  crossed  over  the 
Big  Hole  mountains  and  arrived  at  the 
Flathead  camp  in  the  Bitter  Root  valley  in 
the  year  1804.  Ochanee  claims  to  have  been 
about  13  years  of  age  at  that  date.  She  is  a 
lively  old  woman,  and  still  has  all  of  her 
mental  faculties,  and  can  describe  camps, 
scenes  and  events  which  are  vividly  por- 
trayed in  the  published  reports  of  Lewis  and 
Clarke  descriptive  of  the 

FLATHEAD  AND  NEZ  PERCES  INDIANS, 

who  were  then  hunting  and  camping  to- 
gether. During  the  stay  of  the  explorers  in 
the  Flathead  camp  Captain  Clarke  took 
unto  himself  a  Flathead  woman.  One  son  was 
the  result  of  this  union,  and  he  was  baptised 


af 


BB 


after  the  missionaries  came  to  Bitter  Root 
valley  and  named  Peteter  Clarke.  This  half- 
breed  lived  to  a  ripe  age,  and  was  well  known 
to  many  of  Montana's  early  settlers.  He 
died  about  six  years  ago  and  left  a  son,  who 
was  christened  at  St.  Mary's  mission  to  the 
name  of  Zachariah,  and  pronounced  Sacalee 
by  the  Indiana.  The  latter  has  a  son  three 
years  of  age,  whom  it  is  claimed  by  the  In- 
dians, indirect  decent,  to  be  the  great  grand- 
son of  the  renowned  Captain  Clarke. 

Explorations  from  the  Mississippi  to  the 
Pacific  ocean,  page  308,  Lieutenant  Mullan, 
of  the  United  States  army,  so  widely  known 
in  Montana,  and  after  whom  the  name  is 
given  to  the  Mullan  tunnel,  near  Helena  on 
the  Northern  Pacific  railroad,  sent  with 
Governor  Stevens  to  explore  the  Bitter  Root 
valley,  rendered  the  following 

TRIBUTE  OF  ADMIRATION 

to  the  Flatheads.  The  lines  are  drawn  from 
the  report  published  at  the  time  by  order  of 
the  government.  Captain  Mullen  is  now  a 
resident  of  Washington,  D.  C.,  but  occasion- 
ally comes  to  Montana  to  renew  old  ac- 
quaintanceship among  the  Indians  he  de- 
scribes, and  pioneers  of  his  expedition,  who 
settled  in  Montana;  notably  among  the  lat- 
ter is  Baron  O'Keefe,  David  O'Keefe,  and 
Ben  Welch,  of  Missoula  county.  The  re- 
port says:  "When  I  arrived  at  the  camp 
with  my  guide,  three  or  four  men  came  out 
to  meet  us,  and  we  were  invited  to  enter  the 
lodge  of  the  great  chief.  With  much  eager- 
ness they  took  care  of  our  horses,  unsaddled 
them  and  led  fchem  to  drink.  As  soon  as 
the  camp  had  been  informed  of  the  arrival 
of  a  white  wan  among  them  all  the  princi- 
pal men  of  the  tribe  collected  at  the  lodge  of 

the  chief. 

42 


"All  being  assembled,  at  a  signal  given  by 
the  chief, 

THEY    PRAYED  ALOUD. 

I  was  struck  with  astonishment,  for  I  had 
not  the  least  expectation  of  such  conduct  on 
their  part.  The  whole  assembly  knelt  in 
the  most  solemn  manner,  and  with  the 
greatest  reverence,  they  adored  the  Lord, 
asked  myself:  Am  I  among  Indians?  Am 
I  among  people  whom  all  the  world  call 
savages?  I  could  scarcely  believe  my  eyes. 
The  thought  that  these  men  were  penetrated 
with  religious  sentiments,  so  profound  and 
beautiful  overwhelmed  me  with  amazement. 

"I  could  never  say  enough  of  those  noble 
and  geneious  hearts  among  whom  I  found 
myself.  They  were  pious  and  firm,  men  of 
confidence,  full  of  probity,  and  penetrated 
at  the  same  time  with  a  lively  and 
religious  faith,  to  which  they  re- 
main constant.  They  never  partake 
a  repast  without  imploring  the  blessing  of 
heaven.  In  the  morning  when  rising,  and 
at  night  when  retiring,  they  offer  their  pray- 
ers to  Almighty  God.  The  tribe  of  the  Flat- 
heads  among  the  Indians  is  the  subject  of 
their  highest  esteem,and  all  that  I  witnessed 
myself  justifies  this  advantageous  opinion.' 

Here  is  another  testimony  from  the  Hon. 
Isaac  J.  Stephens,  ex-governor  of  Washing 
ton  territory,  who  made  the  Flathead  treaty 
in  1855,  at  Grass  Valley,  a  few  miles  below 
the  city  of  Missoula,  and 

WHO   WAS  AFTERWARDS  KILLED 

in  sight  of  the  city  of  Washington  fighting 
bravely  for  the  union.  Giving  orders  to 
Lieutenant  Mullan,  he  says: 

•'Tell  those  good  Flatheads  that  the  words 
of  Father  De  Smet,  in  their  behalf,  have 
been  received  by  their  great  father 


[Hly^vlk] 

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LSlfHJ 


the  president  of  the  United  States,  and  that 
all  good  people  are  devoted  to  them.  I 
would  like  to  rebuild  St.  Mary's.  Let  them 
know  I  am  attached  to  them,  and  ready  to 
aid  their  old  benefactors  in  their  well  being. 
This  would  be  most  pleasing  to  me." 

Governor  Stevens  also  wrote  to  the  Indian 
agent  then  in  charge:  "You  are  already 
aware  of  the  character  of  the  Flatheads. 
They  are  the  best  Indians  of  the  mountains 
and  plains — honest,  brave,  and  docile;  they 
only  need  encouragement  to  become  good 
citizens — they  are  Christians,  and  we  are  as- 
sured that  they  live  up  to  the  Christian  code." 

This  message  is  from  the  report 
to  the  president  in  1854,  and 
from  the  pen  of  that  gifted  soldier  and 
statesman,  who  afterward  made  the  Flat- 
head  treaty,  and  as  stated  before  died  for  the 
preservation  of  the  union. 

THE  ELECTION   OF  CHIEF  VICTOR. 

The  chief  who  preceded  the  great  Victor, 
father  of  the  present  chief  Chariot,  had  the 
euphonious  Indian  name,  Etsowish  Semme- 
gee-itshin,  "The  Grizzly  Bear  Erect,"  but 
was  baptized  Loyolo,  by  Father  DeSmet. 
Thii  chieftain  died,  on  the  6th  of  April, 
1S54,  and  was  lamented  by  the  Indians  with 
tokens  of  sincere  grief.  As  the  departed 
cHef,  contrary,  so  Indian  custom,  had  not 
designated  his  successor,  a  new  chief  was  to 
be  chosen  after  his  death.  The  election 
ended  in  an  almost  unanimous  voice  for 
Victor,  a  brave  hunter,  remark- 
able for  the  generosity  of  his 
disposition.  The  inauguration  took  place 
amid  great  feasting  and  rejoicing.  All  the 
warriors,  in  their  gala  costumes,  marched  to 
his  wigwam,  and  ranging  themselves  around 
it,  discharged  their  muskets,  after  which 


IE 

•--• 

if 


15 


rsi 


each  one  went  up  to  him  to  pledge  his  affec- 
tion to  a  hearty  shaking  of  hands.  During 
the  whole  day  numerous  parties  came  to  ex- 
press to  the  missionaries  how  much  satisfac- 
tion they  felt  at  having  a  chief  whose  good- 
ness had  long  since  won  their  hearts.  Victor 
alone  seemed  sad.  He  dreaded  the  respon- 
sibility of  the  chieftainship,  and  thought  he 
should  be  unable  to  maintain  the  good 
effected  in  his  tribe  by  his  predecessor. 

TO  BE  A  GOOD  HUNTER 

and  a  good  warrior  are  the  two  qualities 
par  excellence  that  constitute  a  great 
man  among  the  tribes.  As  both 
qualifications  were  combined  in'm  the  new 
chief,  Victor,  perhaps  a  description  of  the 
manner  of  conducting  an  Indian  hunt  in 
old  days  may  not  be  uninteresting  to  the 
reader. 

Father  DeSmet  says  the  chase  absorbs  the 
whole  attention  of  the  Indian.  The  knowl- 
edge that  he  has  acquired  by  long  experi- 
ence of  the  nature  and  instincts  of  animals, 
is  truly  marvelous.  He  is  occupied  with  it 
from  earliest  infancy.  As  soon  as  a  child  is 
capable  of  managing  a  little  bow,  it  is  the 
first  instrument  his  father  puts  into  his 
hands  to  teach  him  how  to  hunt  little  birds 
and  small  animals.  The  young  Indians  are 
initiated  in  all  their  stratagems.  They  are 
taught  with  as  much  care  how  to  approach 
and  kill  the  animals  as  in  civilized  society  a 
a  youth  is  instructed  in  reading,  writing  and 
arithmetic. 

An  expert  Indian  hunter  is  acquainted 
with  the  habits  and  instincts  of  all  the 
quadrupeds  which  form  the  object  of  the 
chase.  He  knows  their  favorite  haunts.  It 
is  essential  for  him  to  distinguish  what  kind 

of  food  an  animal  first  seeks,  and  the  most 
45 


inr 


m 


favorable  moment  of  quitting  his  lair  for 
procuring  nourishment.  The  hunter  must 
be 

FAMILIAR  WITH  ALL  THE  PRECAUTIONS 

that  are  necessary  to  elude  the  attentive  ear 
.and  watchful  instincts  of  his  intended  vic- 
tims; he  must  appreciate  the  footstep  that 
has  passed  him,  the  time  that  has  elapsed 
since  it  passed,  and  the  direction  it  has  pur- 
sued. The  atmosphere,  the  winds,  ra  n, 
snow,  ice,  forests  and  water  are  the  books 
which  the  Indian  reads,  consults  and  ex- 
amines on  leaving  his  hut  in  pursuit  of 
game. 

In  those  days  the  tribes  found  their  sub- 
sistence in  the  chase;  the  flesh  of  animals 
afforded  them  food  and  the  skins  clothing. 
Before  the  arrival  of  the  whites,  the  method 
of  killing  the  different  species  of  animals 
was  very  simple,  consisting  ordinarily  of 
strategems  and  snares.  They  still  have  re- 
course to  primitive  method  in  the  hunt  for 
large  animals,  when  they  have  no  horses 
capable  of  pursuing  them  and  guns  for  kill- 
ing them  are  wanting.  The  trap  prepared 
for  the  buffalo  was  an  enclosure,  or  pen,  and 
is  one  of  she  more  early  ways  and  perhaps 
the  most  remarkable  for  its  execution:  it 
demands  skill,  and  gives  a  good  idea  of  the 
sagacity,  activity  and  boldness  of  the 
Indian.  As  on  all  other  occasions 
of  moment,  the  jugglers  were  consulted 
and  the  hunt  was  preceded  by  a  great  variety 
of  superstitious  practices.  Father  De  Smet 
described  one  of  these  hunts 

NEAR  THE  JUDITH  BASIN. 

The  buffalo  roamed  the  plains  in  bands  of 
several  hundreds,  and  often  several  thou- 
sands. He  states  that  in  his  travels  he  had 

seen  with  his  own  eyes,  as  far  as  he  could 
46 


1" 


m 

3(5 


discern  on  these  immense  plains,  thousands 
and  thousands  of  these  noble  animals,  mov- 
ing slowly,  like  an  interminable  troop,  in 
one  direction,  and  browsing  the  grass  as 
they  progressed.  They  had  a  fearful  appear- 
ance; their  hairy  heads  inspired  with  terror 
those  who  were  ignorant  of  the  pacific  habits 
of  this  noble  quadruped.  When  alarmed, 
the  tramp  of  their  hoofs,  their  bellowings, 
and  the  columns  of  dust  which  they  raise, 
resemble  the  deep  murmurs  of  a  tempest 
mingled  with  peals  of  thunder,  lessening  as 
they  grow  more  remote. 


-51 


raJisj 


Ef 


rallsi 


A  Description  of  a  Buffalo  Hunt  By  the 
Flathead  Indians. 


A  tribe  that  had  few  guns,  few  horses  to 
run  down  the  animals  which  needs  pursu- 
ing, and  skins  for  clothing,  were  compelled 
to  employ  the  old  or  primitive  method  of 
hunting,  which  existed  from  time  immem- 
orial. The  Indians  described  as  engaged  in 
this  hunt  were  encamped  in  a  suitable 
place  for  the  construction  of  a  park  or  en- 
closure. The  camp  described  contained 
about  three  hundred  lodges,  which  repre- 
sented 2,000  or  3,000  souls.  They  had  se- 
lected the  base  of  a  chain  of  hills  whose 
gentle  slope  presented  a  narrow  valley  and 
a  prairie,  in  which  all  the  lodges  were 
ranged.  Opposite  the  hills  there  was  a  fine 
large  prairie. 

After  the  construction  of  the  lodges  a 
great  council  is  held,  at  which  all  the 
chiefs  and  all  the  hunters  assist.  They 
first  choose  a  band  of  warriors  to 
prevent  the  hunters  from  leaving  the  camp, 
either  alone  or  in  detached  companies,  lest 
the  buffalo  be  disturbed,  and  thus  be  driven 
away  from  the  encampment.  The  law 
against  this  was  extremely  severe,  not  only 
all  the  Indians  of  the  camp  must  conform  to 
it,  but  it  reaches  to  all  travelers  even  when 
they  are  ignorant  of  the  encampment  or  do 
not  know  there  is  a  hunt  in  contemplation. 
Should  they  frighten  the  animals  they  are 
all  punishable;  however,  those  of  the  camp 
are  more  rigorously  chastised  in  case  they 
transgress  the  regulation.  Their  guns,  their 
bows  and  arrows  are  broken,  their  lodges 
cut  in  pieces,  their  dogs  killed,  all  their  pro- 
visions and  their  hides  are  taken  from  them. 
If  they  are  bold  enough  to  resist  the  penalty 


Hit? 


they  are  beaten  with  bows,  sticks  and  clubs. 
Any  one  who  should  set  fire  to  the  prairie 
by  accident  or  imprudence,  or  m 
in  any  way  frighten  off  the  herd  would  be 
sure  to  be  well  beaten. 

As  soon  as  the  law  is  promulgated,  the 
construction  of  the  pen  is  commenced. 
Every  body  labors  at  it  with  cheerful  ardor, 
for  it  is  an  affair  of  common  interest  on 
which  the  subsistence  of  the  entire  tribe 
during  several  months  will  depend.  The 
pen  has  an  area  of  about  an  acre.  To  en- 
close it  in  a  circular  form  stakes  are  firmly 
fixed  in  the  ground  and  the  distance  between 
them  filled  with  logs,  dry  boughs,  masses 
of  stone— in  short  with  what 
even  they  can  find  that  will  answer  the  pur- 
pose. The  circular  palisade  has  but  one 
opening;  before  this  opening  is  a  slope  em- 
bracing fifteen  or  twenty  feet  between  the 
hills.  This  inclined  plain  grows  wider  as  it 
diverges  from  the  circle;  at  its  two  sides  they 
continue  the  fence  to  a  long  distance  on  the 
plain.  As  soon  as  these  preparations  are 
completed,  the  Indians  elect  a  grandmaster 
of  ceremonies  and  of  the  pen.  He  is  gener- 
ally an  old  man,  a  distinguished  personage 
belonging  to  the  Wah-Kon,  or  medicine 
band,  and  famous  in  the  art  of  jugglery, 
which  the  Indians  of  those  days  deemed  a 
supernatural  science.  His  office  is  to  decide 
the  moment  for  driving  the  buffalo  into  the 
enclosure  and  give  the  sienal  for 
the  commencement  of  the  hunt.  He 
plants  the  medicine  mast  in  the 
center  of  the  park,  and  attached  to  it  the 
three  charms  which  are  to  allure  the  ani- 
mals in  that  direction,  viz:  a  streamer  of 
scarlet  cloth  two  or  three  yards  long,  a  piece 

of  tobacco    and   a   buffalo's   horn.    Every 
4  49 


sjral 


morning  at  the  early  dawn  he  beats  his 
drum,  intones  his  hymns  of  conjuration, 
consults  his  own  Wah  Kon  and  the  mani- 
tou's  or  guiding  spirits  of  the  buffalos,  in 
order  to  discover  the  favorable  moment  for 
the  chase.  The  grand -mastw  has  four  run- 
ners at  his  disposal  who  go  out  daily  and 
report  to  him  the  true  result  of  their  obser- 
vations; they  tell  at  what  distance  from  the 
camp  the  animals  are,  their  probable  num- 
ber, and  in  what  direction  the  herd  is  march- 
ing. These  runners  frequently  go  forty  or 
fifty  miles  in  different  directions.  In 
all  their  courses  they  take  with  them 
a  wak-kon  ball,  which  is  intrusted  to  them 
by  the  grand  master.  It  is  made  of  hair  cov- 
ered with  skin.  When  the  mourners  think 
that  the  suitable  moment  has  arrived  they 
immediately  dispatch  a  man  of  their  num- 
ber to  the  grand  master  with  the  ball  and 
the  good  news.  So  long  as  the  mysterious 
ball  is  absent  the  master  of  ceremonies  can- 
not take  food;  he  prolongs  his  vigorous  fast 
by  abstaining  from  every  meat  or  dish  that 
does  not  come  from  some  animal  killed  on 
the  area  of  the  park,  until  the  hunt  is  over; 
and  as  they  often  remain  a  month  or  more 
awaiting  the  most  favorable  moment  of  be- 
ginning, the  grand  master  must  find  himself 
reduced  to  very  small  rations,  unless  he 
makes  some  arrangement  with  his  con- 
science. It  is  probable  that  he  eats  stealthily 
at  night,  for  he  has  no  more  appearance  of 
fasting  than  his  brethren  of  the  camp. 

Let  us  now  suppose  all  to  be  in  readiness, 
and  the  circumstances  all  favorable  to  the 
hunt.  The  grand  master  of  the  camp  beats 
his  drum  to  announce  that  the  buffalo  are 
in  numerous  herds  at  about  fifteen  or  twenty 

miles  distance.    The  wind  is  favorable,  and 
50 


comes  directly  from  the  point  in  which  the 
animals  are.  Immediately  all  the  horsemen 
mount  their  ponies;  the  footmen  armed 
with  bows,  guns  and  lances,  take  their  posi- 
tions, forming  two  long,  oblique  diverging 
'rows  from  the  extremity  of  the  two  barriers 
which  spring  from  the  entrance  of  the  pen 
and  extend  into  the  plain,  and  thus  fold- 
ing the  lines  of  the  enclosure.  When 
the  footmen  are  placed  at  distances  of  ten  or 
fifteen  feet,  the  horsemen  continue  the  same 
lines,  which  separate  in  proportion  as  they 
extend,  so  that  the  last  hunter  on  horseback 
is  found  at  about  two  or  three  miles  distance 
from  the  pen  and  at  very  nearly  the  same 
distance  from  the  last  hunter  of  the  other 
line  in  an  opposite  direction.  When  men 
are  wanting,  women  and  even  children,  oc- 
cupy stations.  After  the  formation  of  these 
two  immense  lines,  one  single  Indian,  un- 
armed, is  sent  on  the  best  horse  in  the  camp 
in  the  direction  of  the  buffaloes  to  meet 
them.  He  approaches  against  the  wind  and 
with  the  greatest  precaution.  At  the  dis- 
tance of  about  one  hundred  paces 
he  envelopes  himself  in  a  buffalo 
hide,  the  fur  turned  outside,  and 
also  envelopes  his  horse  as  much  as  possible 
in  the  same  manner,  and  then  makes  a 
plaintive  cry  in  imitation  of  that  of  a  buffalo 
calf.  As  if  by  enchantment,  this  cry  at- 
tracts the  attention  of  the  whole  herd. 
After  some  seconds  several  thousands  of 
these  quadrupeds,  hearing  the  pitiful  plaint, 
turn  towards  the  pretended  calf.  At  first 
they  move  slowly,  then  advance  into  a  trot, 
and  at  last  they  push  forward  in  full  gallop. 
The  horseman  continually  repeats  the  cry 
of  the  calf,  and  takes  his  course  towards  the 
pen,  ever  attentive  to  keep  at  the  same  dis- 


ra 


H 


tance  from  the  animals  that  are  following 
him.  By  this  stratagem  he  leads  the  vast 
herd  of  buffalo  through  the  whole  distance 
that  separate  him  from  his  companions, 
who  are  on  the  qui  vive,  full  of  ardor  and 
impatience  to  share  with  him  in  his  sport. 

When  the  buffaloes  arrive  in  the  space  be- 
tween the  extremities  of  the  two  lines,  the 
scene  changes.  The  hunters  on  horseback 
giving  rein  to  their  stock  rejoin  each  other 
behind  the  animals.  At  once  the  scent  of 
the  hunters  is  communicated  among  the 
frightened  and  routed  animals  which  at- 
tempt to  escape  in  every  direction.  Then 
those  on  foot  appear.  The  buffalo,  finding 
themselves  surrounded  and  enclosed  on  all 
sides,  accept  the  single  opening  into  the  cir- 
cular opening  before  them,  low  and  bellow 
in  the  most  frightful  manner  and  plunge 
into  it  with  the  speed  and  fear  of  despera- 
tion. The  lines  of  hunters  close  in  gradu- 
ally, and  space  becomes  less  necessary  as  the 
mass  of  buftalo  and  groups  of  hunters 
become  more  and  more  compact.  Then  the 
Indians  commence  firing  their  guns,  draw- 
ing their  arrows  and  flinging  their  lances. 
Many  animals  fall  under  the  blows  before 
gaining  the  pen;  the  greater  number,  how- 
ever enter.  They  discover  only  to  late  the 
snare  that  has  been  laid  for  them.  Those  in 
front  try  to  return,  but  the  terrified  crowd 
that  follow  force  them  to  go  forward,  and 
they  cast  themselves  in  confusion  into  the 
enclosure  amid  the  hurrahs  and  joyful 
shouts  of  the  whole  tribe,  intermingled 
with  the  firing  of  guns.  As  soon  as  all  are 
penned  the  buffalo  are  killed  with  arrows, 
lances  and  knives.  Men,  women  and  chil- 
dren, in  an  excitement  of  joy,  take  part  in 

general  butchery  and  the  flaying  and  cutting 
52 


Efia 


ISlfHJ 


up  of  the  animals.  To  look 
at  them  without  disgust  in  this 
operation,  one  must  have  been  a  little 
habituated  to  their  customs  and  manners. 
While  men  cut  and  slash  the  flesh,  the 
women,  and  children  in  particular,  devour 
the  meat  still  warm  with  life— the  livers, 
kidneys,  brains,  etc.,  seem  irresistible  at- 
tractions. They  smear  their  faces,  hair, 
arms  and  legs  with  the  blood  of  the  buffalo. 
Confused  cries,  clamerous  shouts,  and  here 
and  there  quarrels  fill  up  the  scene.  It  is  a 
picturesque  and  savage  scene— a  very  pan- 
demonium— a  sight  very  difficult  to  despict 
by  words  or  to  recount  in  minute  details. 
In  the  hunt  described,  and  at  which  Father 
DeTruit  was  present,  six  hundred  buffalo 
were  killed.  After  the  butchery  the  skins 
and  flesh  are  separated  into  piles,  and  these 
piles  are  divided  among  the  families  in  pro- 
portion of  the  number  of  which  they  are 
composed.  The  meat  is  afterwards  cut  in 
slices  and  dried;  the  bones  are  bruised  and 
their  grease  extracted.  The  dogs  also  re- 
ceive their  portion  of  the  feast  and  devour 
the  remainder  in  the  nrcna  of  the  pen.  Two 
days  after  the  hunt  not  a  vestige  of  the  car 
nage  remained.  Before  separating  the  In- 
dians pass  several  days  in  dancing  and 
mirth. 


The   Treaty  Which   Chief  Chariot  Swears 
He  Never  Signed. 


On  the  <ith  day  of  September,  1883,  there 
arrived  at  the  Flathead  agency  United  States 
Senator  George  G.  Vest,  of  Missouri,  and 
Mtijor  Martin  Maginnis,  territorial  represen- 
tative from  Montana,  being  the  sub-com- 
mittee of  the  special  committee  of  the  United 
States  senate  appointed  to  visit  the  Indian 
tribes  in  northern  Montana.  The  CO  nmittee 
were  accompanied  by  Schuyler  Crosby,  gov- 
ernor of  Montana,  and  were  met  at  Arlee, 
the  railway  station,  by  the  United  States  In- 
dian agent  and  several  hundred  Indians.  I 
quote  from  the  official  report  of  said  com- 
mittee: 

The  scene  at  the  station  as  we 
left  the  train  was  very  picturesque 
and  interesting.  Some  five  hundred 
Chinamen,  lately  engaged  in  the  construc- 
tion of  the  Northern  Pacific  railroad,  were 
encamped  near  the  station,  and  their  sallow 
countenances  exhibited  unmistakable  evi- 
dences of  apprehension  as  the  Indians  ex- 
tended us  a  welcome  in  one  of  their  charac- 
teristic dances,  accompanied  by  a  good  deal 
of  noise  and  much  reckless  riding  on  their 
ponies  around  the  Chinese  camp.  Sur- 
rounded by  this  wild  but  hospitable  escort, 
we  proceeded  to  the  agency,  and  upon  the 
following  day  met  the  Indians  in  council, 
the  tribes  on  the  reservation  being  repre- 
sented by  Michel,  head  chief  ot  the  Pen  d' 
Orcilles;  Arlee,  second  chief  of  Flatheads, 
and  Eneas,  head  chief  of  the  Kootenais." 

A  full  account  of  the  proceedings  of  said 

council    will   be   found     in     the     official 

report  ot  Senator  H.  L.  Dawes,  of  Massa- 

chusetts. chairman  of  the  special  conimit- 

54 


tee  of  the  senate  of  the  United  States 
to  inquire  into  the '  condition  of  Sioux  In- 
dians on  their  reservation,  and  also  to  in- 
quire into  the  grievances  of  the  Indians  in 
Montana  territory.  As  this  chapter  is  only 
intended  to  present  the  status  of  Chariot's 
band  of  Bitter  Root  Flathead  Indians,  I 
shall  only  touch  upon  that  subject. 

After  holding  council  with  the  confeder- 
ated tribes  of  Indians  on  the  Flathead  reser- 
vation, the  sub  committee  proceeded  from 
the  reservation  to  hold  a  council  with  Char- 
lot,  head  and  heriditary  chief  of  the  Flat- 
heads,  and  arrived  at  Stevensville,  in  the 
Bitter  Root  valley,  on  September  10,  1883. 
The  official  report  says:  On  the  morning 
after  our  arrival  we  visited  St.  Mary's  mis- 
sion in  the  suburbs  of  Stevensville,  and 
learned  much  about  the  condition  of  Chariot 
and  his  band  from  the  Jesuit  fathers.  Father 
Ravalli  who  has  been  among  them  for  fifty 
three  years,  has  been  partially  paralyzed  for 
more  than  five  years  and  unable 
to  leave  his  bed,  but  his  intellect 
is  vigorous  and  his  cheerfulness 
most  astonishing.  Lying  in  his  little 
room  with  his  crucifix  and  books,  he  pre- 
scribes for  the  sick,  and  even  performs  dif- 
ficult surgical  operations,  for  he  is  a  most 
accomplished  physician  and  surgeon.  This 
remarkable  man  was  the  trusted  friend  and 
companion  of  Father  DeSmet.  and  he  is 
probably  better  acquainted  with  the  differ- 
ent Indian  tribes  of  the  west,  their  lan- 
guage, habits  and  superstitions  than  any 
one  living  man." 

This  great  and  good  man  has  gone  to  his 
reward  since  Senator  Vest's  report  was 
written. 

"After  an   interesting   conversation  with 

55 


Lsira] 


Father  Ravalli  of  two  hours,  the  arrival  oi 
Chariot,  head  chief  of  the  Flatheads.  and 
five  of  his  principal  men,  was  announced, 
and  an  equal  number  ot  whites  being  pres- 
ent we  entered  upon  an  interview,  which 
at  times  was  very  dramatic  and  even  stormy. 

Chariot  is  an  Indian  of  fine  appearance 
and  impressed  us  a  brave  and  honest  man. 
That  he  has  been  badly  treated  is  unques- 
tionable, and  the  history  of  the  negotiation 
which  culminated  in  the  division  of  his 
tribe,  part  of  them  under  Arlee,  the  second 
chief,  being  now  on  the  Jocko  reservation, 
and  part  still  in  the  Bitter  Root  valley  with 
Chariot,  is,  to  say  the  least,  remarkable. 

In  report  of  the  commissioner  of  Indian 
affairs  for  the  year  1872,  pages  109,  110,  111, 
112,  113,  114,  115,  116  and  117,  will  be  found 
this  history,  and  in  exhibit  B,  herewith 
filed,  will  be  found  a  communication  from 
Major  Ronan  to  the  commissioner  of  Indian 
affairs,  in  which  the  main  facts  are  clearly 
stated. 

In  1855  a  treaty  was  made  between  the 
United  States,  represented  by  Governor 
Stevens  and  Victor,  chief  of  the  Flaiheads 
and  father  of  Chariot,  known  as  the  Hell 
Gate  treaty.  By  this  treaty  a  very  large  ter- 
ritory, extending  from  near  the  forty-second 
parallel  to  the  British  line,  and  with  an 
average  breadth  of  nearly  two  degrees  of 
latitude,  was  ceded  to  the  government;  and 
on  yielding  it,  Victor  insisted  upon  holding 
the  Bitter  Root  valley  above  the  Lo  Lo  Fork, 
as  a  special  reservation  for  the  Flathead 
people. 

By  the  9th  and  llth  articles  of  the  treaty, 
the  president  was  empowered  to  determine 
whether  the  Flatheads  should  remain  in  the 
Bitter  Root  valley  or  go  to  the  Jocko  reser- 


i 


P 

I 


ration,  and  the  president  was  required  to 
have  the  Bitter  Root  valley  surveyed  and  ex- 
amined in  order  to  determine  this  question. 

Up  to  the  time  of  General  Garfield's  visit 
in  1872,  seventeen  years  afterwards,  no  sur- 
vey was  made  as  the  Indians  claim,  nor 
were  any  schoolmasters,  blacksmiths,  car- 
penters or  farmers  sent  to  the  tribe,  as  pro- 
vided for  in  the  treaty. 

In  the  meantime  the  Bitter  Root  valley, 
by  far  the  most  beautiful  and  productive  in 
Montana,  was  being  filled  up  by  the  whites, 
and  on  November  14,  1871,  the  president 
issued  an  order  declaring  that  the  Indians 
should  be  removed  to'  the  Jocko  reservation, 
and  on  June  5,  1872,  congress  passed  a  bill 
appropriating  $50,000  to  pay  the  expense  of 
this  removal,  and  to  pay  the  Indians  for  the 
loss  of  their  improvements  in  the  Bitter  Root 
valley. 

This  order  the  Indians  refused  to  obey, 
and  serious  apprehensions  of  trouble  be- 
tween them  and  the  white  settlers  caused 
the  appointment  by  the  secretary  of  the  in- 
terior of  General  Garfield  as  special  commis- 
sioner to  visit  the  Flatheads  and  secure,  if 
possible,  their  peaceful  removal  to  the  Jocko 
reservation. 

General  Garfield  states  in  his  report  that 
he  found  the  Indians  opposed  to  leaving  the 
Bitter  Root  valley,  for  the  reason  that  the 
government  had  for  seventeen  years  failed 
to  carry  out  the  treaty  of  1855,  and  that  no 
steps  had  been  taken  towards  surveying  and 
examining  the  Bitter  Root  valley,  as  pro- 
vided in  the  treaty.  On  August  27,  1872,  he 
drew  up  an  agreement  which  reads  as 
follows: 

FLATHEAD  RESERVATION,  August  27, 1872. — 

Articles  of  agreement  made  this  27tb  day  of 
57 


n 

i 

1 

i 
1 


August,  1872,  between  James  A.  Garfield, 
special  commissioner,  authorized  by  the  sec- 
retary of  the  interior  to  carry  into  execution 
the  provisions  of  the  act  approved  June  t>, 
1872,  for  the  removal  of  the  Flathead  and 
other  Indians  from  the  Bitter  Root  valley, 
of  the  first  part,  and  Chariot,  first  chief, 
Arlee,  second  chief,  and  Adolph,  third  clii<  f 
of  the  Flatheads,  of  the  second  part,  wit- 
nesseth: 

Whereas,  it  was  provided  in  the  eleventh 
article  of  the  treaty  concluded  at  Hell  Gate, 
July  15. 1855,  and  approved  by  the  senate 
March  8,  1859,  between  the  United  States 
and  the  Flatheads,  Kootenai  and  Pend 
d'Oreille  Indians  that  the  president  shall 
cause  the  Bitter  Root  valley  above  the  Lo 
Lo  Fork  to  be  surveyed  and  examined,  and 
if  in  his  judgment  it  should  be  found  better 
adapted  to  the  wants  of  the  Flathead  tribe, 
as  a  reservation  for  said  tribe,  it  should  be 
so  set  aside  and  reserved;  and  whereas  the 
president  did,  on  the  14th  day  of  November, 
1871,  issue  his  order  setting  forth  that  "the 
Bitter  Root  valley  had  been  carefully  sur- 
veyed and  examined  in  accordance  with 
said  treaty,"  and  did  declare  that  "it  is 
therefore  ordered  that  all  Indians  residing 
in  said  Bitter  Root  valley,  be  removed  as 
soon  as  practicable  to  the  Jocko  reservation, 
and  that  a  just  compensation  be  made  for 
improvements  made  by  them  in  the  Bitter 
Root  valley,  and  whereas, the  act  of  congress 
above  recited  approved  June  5,  1872,  makes 
provisions  for  such  compensation;  therefore: 

It  is  hereby  agreed  and  covenanted  by  the 
parties  to  this  instrument: 

First.  That  the  party  of  the  first  part 
shall  cause  to  be  erected  sixty  good  and  sub- 
stantial houses,  twelve  feet  by  sixteen  each, 
58 


151  fHJ 


if  so  large  a  number  shall  be  needed  for  the 
accommodation  of  the  tribe,  three  of  said 
houses  lor  the  first,  second  and  third  chiefs 
of  said  tribe,  to  be  of  double  the  size  men- 
tioned above;  said  houses  to  be  placed  in 
such  portion  of  the  Jocko  reservation,  not 
already  occupied  by  other  Indians,  as  said 
chiefs  may  select. 

Second.  That  the  superintendent  of  In- 
dian affairs  for  Montana  territory  shall  cause 
to  be  delivered  to  said  Indians  600  bushels  of 
wheat,  the  same  to  be  ground  into  flour 
without  cost  to  said  Indians  and  delivered 
to  them  in  good  condition  during  the  first 
year  after  their  removal  together  with  such 
potatoes  and  other  vegetables  as  can  be 
spared  from  the  agency  farm. 

Third,  That  said  superintendent  shall  as 
soon  as  practicable,  cause  suitable  portions 
of  land  to  be  enclosed  and  broken  up  for 
said  Indians,  and  shall  furnish  them  with 
sufficient  number  of  agricultural  imple- 
ments for  the  cultivation  of  their  grounds. 

Fourth.  That  in  carrying  out  the  foresro- 
fng  agreement  as  much  as  possible  shall 
be  done  at  the  agency  by  the  employes 
of  the  government;  and  none  of  such  labor 
or  materials,  or  provisions  furnished  from 
the  agency,  shall  be  charged  as  money. 

Fifth.  The  whole  of  the  $5,000  in  money 
now  in  the  hands  of  the  said  superintendent 
appropriated  for  the  removal  of  said  Indi- 
ans, shall  be  paid  to  them  in  such  forms  as 
their  chiefs  shall  determine,  except  such 
portion  as  is  necessarily  expended  in  carry- 
ing out  the  preceding  provisions  of  this 
agreement. 

Sixth.  That  there  shall  be  paid  to  said 
tribe  of  Flathead  Indians  the  sum  of  $50,000, 
as  provided  in  the  second  section  of  the  act 


L51IEJ 


above  recited,  to  be  paid  in  ten  annual  in- 
stallments, in  such  manner  and  material  as 
the  president  may  direct;  and  no  part  of  the 
payments  herein  promised  shall  in  no  way 
affect  or  modify  the  full  right  of  said  Indians 
to  the  payments  and  annuities  now  and 
hereafter  due  them  under  existing  treaties^ 

Seventh.  It  is  understood  and  agreed  that 
this  contract  shall  in  no  way  interfere  with 
the  rights  of  any  member  of  the  Flathead 
tribe  to  take  land  in  the  Bitter  Root  valley, 
under  the  third  section  of  the  act  above 
cited. 

Eighth.  And  the  party  of  the  second  part 
hereby  agree  and  promise  that  when  the 
houses  have  been  built  as  provided  in  the 
first  clause  of  this  agreement  they  will  re- 
move the  Flathead  tribe  to  said  houses  (ex- 
cept such  as  shall  take  land  in  the 
Bitter  Root  valley)  in  accordance 
with  the  third  section  ol  the  act  above  cited, 
and  will  thereafter  occupy  the  Jocko  reser- 
vation as  their  permanent  home.  But 
nothing  in  this  agreement  shall  deprive  said 
Indians  of  their  full  right  to  hunt  and  fish 
in  any  Indian  country  where  they  are  now 
entitled  to  hunt  and  fish  under  existing 
treaties.  Nor  shall  anything  in  this  agree- 
ment be  so  constructed  as  to  deprive  any  of 
said  Indians  so  removing  to  the  Jocko 
reservation  from  selling  all  their  improve- 
ments in  the  Bitter  Root  valley. 

[Signed]  JAMES  A.  GARFIELD, 

Special  commissioner  for  the  removal  of 
the  Flatheads  from  the  Bitter  Root  valley. 

CHARLOT, 
(His  x  mark) 
First  Chief  of  the  Flatheads. 

ARLEE, 
(His  x  mark) 
Second  Chief  of  the  Flatheads. 


IE! 


ADOLF, 
(His  z  mark) 

Third  Chief  of  the  Flatheads. 
Witness  to  contract  and  signatures: 
WM.  H.  CLAGETT, 
D.  G.  SWAIN, 

Judge  Advocate  U.  8.  army. 
W.  F.  SANDERS, 
J.  A.  VIAL, 
B.  F.  POTTS, 
Governor  of  Montana. 
I  certify  that  I  interpreted  fully  and  care- 
fully the  foregoing  contract  to    the  three 
chiefs  of  the  Flatheads  named  above. 
BAPTIST  ROBWANEN, 
(His  x  mark) 


Witness  to  signature: 


Interpreter. 

B.  F.  POTTS, 
Governor. 


r? 


LSI  [HJ 


A  History  of  the  Treaty    with    Old    Flat- 
head  Chief. 


The  United  States  sub-commissioner's  re- 
port continues: 

Chariot,  although  his  name  or  mark  is 
affixed  to  the  published  agreement,  declares 
that  he  never  signed  it  or  authorized  the 
signing,  and  the  original  agreement  con- 
firms his  statements.  He  has  refused  to 
leave  the  Bitter  Root  valley,  some  360  of  the 
tribe  remaining  with  him.  Under  the  third 
section  of  the  act  of  1872,  patents  for  1GO 
acres  of  land  each  were  issued  to  fifty-one 
members  of  the  tribe,  and  Major  Ronan, 
then  agent,  tendered  them  these  patents,  but 
they  refused,  and  still  refuse  to  take  them. 
In  regard  to,  General  Garfield  says  in  his 
report: 

A  large  number  of  heads  of  families  and 
young  men  notified  the  superintendent  that 
they  had  chosen  to  take  up  land  in  the  val- 
ley under  the  third  section.  But  it  was  evi- 
dent that  they  did  this  in  the  hope  that  they 
might  all  remain  in  the  valley  and  keep 
their  tribe  together  as  heretofore,  believing 
that  each  could  take  up  160  acres. 

The  publication  of  the  Garfield  agreement 
with  Chariot's  signature  or  mark  affixed  to 
it  created  the  impression  that  all  trouble 
was  over  with  the  Indians,  and  a  large 
white  emmigration  poured  into  the  Bitter 
Root  valley.  The  result  is  that  the  Indians 
who  adhered  to  Chariot  are  yet  in  the  val- 
ley, miserably  poor,  with  one  or  two  ex- 
ceptions, surrounded  by  whites  who  are 
anxious  for  their  removal,  and  the  young 
men,  with  no  restraint  upon  them,  loung- 
ing around  the  saloons  in  Stevensville  and 
utterly  worthless.  As  the  case  now  stands 


OF  THE 

UNIVERSIT  , 

OF 


151  (HJ 


these  Indians  have  no  title  to  any  portion  of 
the  Bitter  Root  valley,  as  they  refuse  to 
take  the  patents  and  are  defying  the  order 
of  the  president  for  their  removal  to  the 
Jocko  reservation. 

Chariot  told  us  that  he  would  never  go  to 
the  Jocko  reservation  alive;  that  he  had  no 
confidence  in  our  promise,  "for,"  said  he, 
"your  Great  Father  Garfield  put  my  name 
to  a  paper  which  I  never  signed,  and  the 
renegade  Nez  Perce,  Arlee,  is  now  drawing 
money  to  which  he  has  no  right.  How  can 
I  believe  you  or  any  white  man?" 

Continues  the  report:  We  are  compelled 
to  admit  that  there  was  much  truth  and  jus- 
tice in  his  statement.  That  his  name  was 
falsely  published  as  signed  to  the  Garfield 
agreement  is  unfortunately  true,  as  shown 
by  the  original. 

General  Garfield  in  his  report,  page  111, 
says: 

The  provisions  of  the  contract  were  de- 
termined after  full  consultation  with  the 
superintendent  and  the  territorial  delegate, 
and  finally  the  chiefs  were  requested  to 
answer  by  signing  or  refusing  to  sign  it. 
Arlee  and  Adolph,  the  second  and  third 
chiefs,  signed  the  contracts  and  said  they 
would  do  all  they  could  to  enforce  it;  but 
Chariot  refused  to  sign,  and  said  that  if  the 
president  commanded  it  he  would  leave  the 
Bitter  Root  valley,  but  at  present  would  not 
promise  to  go  to  the  reservation.  The  other 
chiefs  expressed  the  opinion  that  if  houses 
were  built  and  preparations  made  according 
to  the  contract,  Chariot  would  finally  con- 
sent to  the  arrangement  and  go  with  the 
tribe.  In  a  letter  to  J.  A.  Vial,  superinten- 
dent of  Indian  affairs,  bearing  the  same  date 
with  the  contract  and  to  be  found  on  page 


re]  [si 


iSlfHJ 


115  of  the  report  of  the  commissioner  ol 
Indian  affairs  for  1872.  General  Garfield 
says: 

In  carrying  out  the  terms  of  the  contract 
made  with  the  chiefs  of  the  Flatheads  for  re- 
moving that  tribe  to  this  reservation  (Jocko) 
I  have  concluded,  after  fall  consultation 
5]  with  you,  to  proceed  with  the  work  in  the 

same  manner  as  though  Chariot,  first  chief, 
had  signed  the  contract.  I  do  this  in  the  be- 
lief that  when  he  sees  the  work  going  for- 
ward he  will  conclude  to  come  here  with  the 
other  chiefs  and  then  keep  the  tribe  un- 
broken. 

The  report  of  Senator  Vest  and  Delegate 
Maginnis  further  says:  It  is  unfortunate 
that  General  Garfield  came  to  this  conclu- 
sion, and  it  is  still  more  unfortunate  that 
the  published  agreement  as  shown  by  the 
report  of  the  commissioner  of  Indian  affairs 
has  the  signature  of  Chariot  affixed  to  it, 
whilst,  as  stated,  the  original  agreement 
on  file  in  the  department  of  the  in- 
terior does  not  show  the  signature  of  Char- 
lot,  but  confirms  this  statement  that  he  did 
not  sign  it.  The  result  of  this  publication 
has  been  to  imbitter  Chariot  and  render  him 
suspicious  and  distrustful  of  the  government 
and  its  agents.  Many  interested  parties  be- 
iieved  or  pretended  to  believe,  that  the 
agreement  as  published  is  correct,  and  that 
Chariot  really  signed  it,  and  they  have  re- 
peated the  statement  until  he  and  his  band 
are  exasperated  at  what  they  consider  an 
attempt  to  rob  them  of  their  land  by  false- 
hood and  fraud. 

The  great  cause  of  Chariot's  bitterness, 
however,  is  the  fact  that  Arlee,  second  chief, 
is  recognized  by  the  government  as  the  head 
of  the  tribe,  and  has  received  all  its  bounty. 


MICHEL  REVAIS,  OFFICIAL  INTERPRETER 
FLATHEAD  AGENCY  M 


m 

511 


This  is  such  an  insult  as  no  chief  can 
forgive  and  it  must  be  remem- 
bered that  Chariot  is  the  son  of 
Victor  and  the  heriditory  chief  of  his  tribe. 
Looking  at  all  the  circumstances,  the  re- 
moval of  part  of  his  tribe  without  his  con- 
sent, the  ignoring  his  rights  as  head  chief, 
and  setting  him  aside  for  Arlee,  the  publica- 
tion of  his  name  to  an  agreement  which  he 
refused  to  sign,  we  cannot  blame  him  for 
distrust  and  resentment.  In  this  the  out- 
rage is  the  greater  for  the  reason  that  Char- 
lot  and  his  people  have  been  the  steady,  un- 
flinching friends  of  the  whites  under  the 
most  trying  circumstances.  When  Joseph, 
the  Nez  Perce  chief,  came  into  the  Bitter 
Root  valley  on  his  raid  into  Montana, 
Cnarlot  refused  to  accept  his  proffered  hand, 
because  the  blood  of  the  white  man  was 
upon  it;  and  he  told  Joseph  that  although 
the  Flatheads  and  Nez  Perces  were  of  kin, 
if  he  killed  a  single  white  in 
the  valley  or  injured  the  property 
of  the  white  settlers  the  Flatheads  would  at- 
tack him.  To  the  action  of  Chariot  the 
white  settlers  owed  their  safety,  and  at  our 
conference  an  old  warrior  was  pointed  out 
(now  blind  and  feeble),  by  one  of  the  Jesu- 
ites,  who  had  drawn  his  revolver  and  pro- 
tected the  wife  of  the  blacksmith  at  Steven  s- 
ville  from  outrage  at  the  hands  of  the  Nez 

Perces. 

After  exhausting  argument  and  persua- 
sion we  told  Chariot  very  firmly  that  he  and 
his  people  must  either  take  patents  or  go  to 
the  Jocko  reservation,  that  we  knew  lie  had 
been  the  friend  of  the  whites  and  had  been 
badly  treated,  but  that  the  white  settlers 
were  all  now  around  him  and  his  people 
were  becoming  poorer  every  day,  whilst  his 
young  men  were  drinking  and  gambling. 


(STTHl 


His  only  reply  was  that  he  would  never 
be  taken  alive  to  the  Jocko  reservation,  and 
we  finally  left  him  with  the  understanding 
that  he  would  come  to  Washington  and 
talk  the  matter  over  with  the  great  father. 


The  Chief  Went  to  Washington  and  Talked 
Matters  Over. 

I  am  glad  to  learn  that  the  interior  de- 
partment has  ordered  Chariot  and  some  of 
his  tribe  to  be  sent  to  Washington,  and  it  is 
to  be  hoped  that  some  agreement  or  ar- 
rangement can  be  had  which  will  obviate 
the  necessity  for  using  force  against  these 
brave  and  unfortunate  people.  In  any 
event,  deeply  as  we  sympathize  with  these 
people,  and  deplore  the  manner  in  which 
Chariot  has  been  treated,  we  are  satisfied 
with  the  welfare  of  both  the  whites  and  In- 
dians in  the  Bitter  Root  valley  absolutely 
demands  the  removal  of  the  latter  to  the 
Jocko  reservation.  Their  presence  in  the 
valley  is  a  continued  source  of  danger  and 
disgust.  The  titles  to  the  lands  are  unset- 
tled and  improvement  is  stopped  by  reason 
of  the  uncertainty  existing  in  regard  to  the 
ultimate  decision  of  the  questions  growing 
out  of  the  present  state  of  affairs.  The  Bit- 
ter Root  valley  is  no  place  for  them.  Their 
condition  is  becoming  more  desperate  every 
year  and  the  few  who  have  accumulated 
property  are  daily  becoming  poorer  from 
their  established  usuage  of  never  refusing  to 
feed  those  who  are  hungry.  If  the  necessity 
should  at  last  come  for  removing  them  by 
force  it  should  be  done  firmly  but  gently, 
and  as  Chariot  and  his  band  have  received 
nothing  out  of  the  150,000  paid  to  Arlee  and 
those  went  with  him,  congress  should  ap- 


m 


MAJOR  RONAN,  CHIEF  CHARLOT,  AND  INDIAN  DELEGATION, 
VISIT  WASHINGTON  IN  1884. 


propriate  such  an  amount  as  will  provide 
them  on  the  reservation  with  houses,  grain 
and  cattle,  as  stipulated  in  the  treaty  of  1885 
and  the  Garfield  agreement. 

CHARLOT'S  TRIP  TO  WASHINGTON. 
On  the  16th  day  of  January,  1884,  the 
United  States  agent  for  the  confederated 
tribes  of  Indians  living  upon  the  Flathead 
or  Jocko  reservation,  in  accordance  with  in- 
structions of  the  honorable  commissioner  of 
Indian  affairs,  took  his  departure  from  Mis- 
soula,  Montana  Territory,  for  the  city  of 
Washington,  accompanied  by  the  following 
named  delegation  of  Chariot's  band  of  Bitter 
Root  Flathead  Indians: 

1.  Head  Chief  Chariot— Slem-Hak-Kah. 
"Little  claw  of  a  grizzly  bear." 

2.  Antoine      Moise  —  Callup-Squal-She. 
"Grain  with  a  ring  around  his  neck." 

3.  Louis— Licoot-Sim-Hay.  "Grizzly  bear 
far  away." 

4.  John  Hill— Ta-hetchet.    "Hand  Shot 
Off." 

5.  Abel  or  Tom  Adams— Swam- Ach-ham. 
"Red  Arm." 

And  the  official  interpreter,  Michel  Ra- 
vais,  whose  Indian  name  is  China- Coo-S wee, 
"The  Man  Who  Walks  Alone." 

The  object  of  ordering  the  Indians  to 
Washington  was  in  accordance  with  the 
recommendations  of  Senator  Vest  and  Major 
Martin  Maginnis,  the  sub-committee  of  the 
United  States  senate  committee,  and  was  to 
try  to  secure  Chariot's  consent  to  remove 
with  his  band  from  the  Bitter  Root  valley, 
and  to  settle  upon  the  Jocko  reservation. 
Nearly  a  month  was  spent  at  the  national 
capital,  and  during  that  time  several  inter- 
views were  held  by  the  Indians  and  the 
67 


a 

I 


agent  with  the  secretary  of  the  interior, 
Hon.  H.  M.  Teller,  but  no  offer  of  pecuniary 
reward  or  persuasions  of  the  secretary  could 
shake  Chariot's  resolution  to  remain  in  the 
Bitter  Root  valley.  An  offer  to  build  him 
a  house,  fence  in  and  plow  a  sufficiency  of 
land  for  a  farm,  give  him  cattle  and  horses, 
and  seed  and  agricultural  implements,  and 
to  do  likewise  for  each  head  of  a  family  be- 
longing to  his  band.  Also  a  yearly  pension 
of  $500  to  Chariot,  and  to  be  recognized  as 
the  heir  of  Victor,  his  deceased  father,  and 
to  take  his  place  as  the  head  chief  of  the 
confederated  tribes  of  the  Flatheads,  Pend 
d'  Oreilles  and  Kootenai  Indians  living  on 
the  Jocko  reservation,  had  no  effect.  His 

3  only  answer  to  those  generous  offers  was 

that  he  came  to  Washington  to  get  the  per- 
mission of  the  Great  Father  to  allow  him  to 

5]  live  unmolested  in  the  Bitter  Root  valley, 

the  home  of  his  father  and  the  land  of  his 
ancestors.  He  asked  for  no  assistance  from 
the  government,  only  the  poor  privilege  of 
remaining  in  the  valley  where  he  was  born 
and  where  the  dust  of  his  tribe  who  lived 
before  him  was  mingled  with  the  earth.  If 
any  of  his  tribe  desired  to  accept  the  bounty 
of  the  government  and  remove  to  the  Jocko 
reservatioa  they  were  at  liberty  to  do  so,  and 
he  would  offer  no  objection;  but  it  was  his 
own  and  individual  wish  to  live  and  die  in 
the  Bitter  Root  valley. 

At  the  last  interview  held  with  the  secre- 
tary of  the  interior  Chariot  was  told  if  he  de- 
sired to  live  in  the  Bitter  Root  valley,  he 
could  do  so  as  long  as  he  remained  in  peace 
and  friendship  with  the  white  settlers.  No 
promise  of  assistance  was  given  the  chief  or 
his  band  by  the  secretary  so  long  as  they  re- 


mained  in  the  Bitter  Root  valley.  After  an 
interview  with  President  Arthur,  arrange- 
ments were  made  for  departure  to  Montana, 
without  havine  accomplished  anything 
whatever  looking  to  the  removal  of  the 
chief  and  his  band  to  the  Jocko  reservation. 

Before  departure  from  the  capital,  the  sec- 
retary of  the  interior  held  a  special  inter- 
view with  the  agent,  none  of  the  Indians 
being  present,  and  after  patiently  listening 
to  his  recital  of  the  extreme  poverty  of  Chief 
Chariot  and  his  band,  who  received  no  aid 
or  assistance  from  the  government,  the  sec- 
retary gave  the  agent  verbal  instructions  to 
proceed  to  the  Bitter  Root  valley,  as  soon  as 
practicable  after  his  return  to  the  Jocko 
reservation,  and  report  to  him  through  the 
commissioner  of  Indian  affairs  the  wants 
and  necessities  of  this  unfortunate  tribe;  and 
also  to  give  his  views  in  detail  as  to  the  most 
practicable  method  for  the  department  to 
relieve  their  wants,  which  should  have  con- 
sideration, and  also  to  encourage  them  to 
remove  to  the  Jocko  reservation. 

On  the  evening  of  the  7th  of  March,  1884, 
the  agent  arrived  in  Missoula,  Montana, 
from  Washington  with  the  Flathead  In- 
dian delegation,  where  he  procured  wagon 
transportation  and  sent  them  to  their  homes 
in  Bitter  Root  valley.  The  members  of  the 
Flathead  tribe  were  in  the  mountains  hunt- 
ing for  game  with  which  to  support  their 
families,  as  they  had  no  other  resource  for 
food  in  the  winter  season.  The  agent  sent 
out  runners  to  call  them  in,  so  that  he 
could  proceed  according  to  verbal  instruc- 
tions given  to  him  by  the  secretary  of  the 
interior,  on  the  1st  day  of  March,  1884.  at  his 
office  in  the  interior  department  at  Wash- 


ington,  which  was  in  effect,  to  go  to  the  Bit- 
ter Root  valley  and  report  as  to  their  neces- 
sities and  wants  and  to  their  affairs  gener- 
ally. Previously  the  agent  had  but  very 
little  intercourse  officially  with  Chariot's 
band  of  Indians,  but  from  conversation 
with  the  secretary  of  the  interior  he  became 
convinced  that  his  relations  with  them  after- 
ward would  become  of  a  closer  character. 

From  consultations  and  councils  with  the 
Indians  after  his, return  the  agent  was  ltd  to 
believe  that  the  greater  portion  of  Chariot's 
band  would  consent  to  remove  to  the  Jocko 
reservation,  if  he  would  promise  that  the 
government  would  assist  in  building  a  house 
for  each  family,  fence  for  each  a  field  and 
furnish  seed  for  the  first  year  or  two;  give  a 
wagon,  hainess  and  plow,  with  other  agri- 
cultural tools,  and  also  furnish  at  least  two 
cows  for  each  family,  besides  permitting 
those  who  had  land  improvements  in  Bit- 
ter Root  valley  to  sell  the  same. 

A  COUNCIL  WAS  HELD 

and  twenty-one  families  agreed  to  remove, 
and  to  them,  following  the  views  of  the  hon- 
orable secretary  of  the  interior,  the  agent 
promised: 

First— A  choice  of  160  acres  of  unoccupied 
land  on  the  Jocko  reservation. 

Second— Assistance  in  the  erection  of  a 
substantial  house. 

Third— Assistance  in  fencing  and  break- 
ing up  a  field  of  at  least  ten  acres. 

Fourth— The  following  gifts:  Two  cows 
to  each  lamily,  a  wagon  and  harness,  a 
plow,  with  all  other  necessary  agricultural 
implements,  seed  for  the  first  year  and  pro- 
visions until  the  first  year  was  harvested. 

This  was  a  moderate  promise,  and  the  In- 
70 


dian  department  fulfilled  it  to  the  letter, 
and  also  authorized  the  construction  of  an 
irrigation  ditch  to  cover  the  lands  settled 
upon  by  the  Flatheads.  The  government 
still  generously  assists  these  people  to  up- 
hold their  hands  in  striving  for  a  civilizen 
independence  and  a  sustained  well  doing. 

The  greater  portion  of  families  who  re- 
moved under  this  arrangement  held  patents 
to  lands  in  the  Bitter  Root  valley,  but  left 
their  farms  for  new  homes,  trusting  to  the 
government  to  make  proper  disposition  of 
the  same  at  some  tuture  time  for  their 
benefit. 

On  the  12th  of  August,  1884,  the  agent 
made  a  thorough  census,  and  found  that 
this  once  great  tribe,  under  the  chieftainship 
of  Chariot,  in  the  Bitter  Root  valley,  con- 
sisted of  the  following  numbers: 

Married  men 79 

Unmarried  males  over  16  years 25 

Boys  under  16  years 68 

Total  number  of  males 172 

Married  women 100 

Marriageable  girls 4 

Girls  under  age  pueberty 61 

Total  number  of  females 165 

In  all  342  individuals,  of  whom  101  were 
heads  of  families,  who  were  then  married  or 
had  been  so. 

In  January,  1885,  the  agent  issued  sup- 
plies to  Chariot's  band  in  the  Bitter  Root 
valley,  this  being  the  first  distribution  of 
any  kind  made  among  them  by  the  govern 
ment  since  the  Garfield  agreement  and  for 
years  before  that  agreement  was  drawn  up. 
Wagons,  plows,  harness  and  agricultural 
implements  were  also,  issued  by  the  agent 
and  it  was  hoped  that  by  devotion  to  agri- 
cultural pursuits  that  an  area  of  prosperity 
71 


fEJlSl 


and  civilization  would  dawn  upon  this  rem- 
nant of  a  once  great  and  powerful  tribe. 

Sketches  of  Big  Canoe,  Adolph  and  Arlee, 
of  Montana  Indian  Fame. 


Big  Canoe,  who  was  war  chief  of  the 
Pend  d'Oreilles,  died  in  1882,  at  the  Flat- 
head  agency,  and  was  buried  in  the  Indian 
burying  ground  at  Fort  Ignatius  mission. 
He  was  83  years  of  age  at  the  time  of  his 
death,  and  was  considered  by  the  Indians  to 
be  one  of  the  greatest  war  chiefs  the  tribe 
of  the  Pend  d'  Oreilles  ever  had.  The  stories 
of  battles  led  by  him  against  Indian  foes 
would  fill  a  volume.  As  this  aged  warrior 
was  well  known  to  the  old  settlers  of  Mis- 
soula  county,  I  feel  tempted  to  give  one  of 
his  stories,  which  was  related  to  the  writer 
in  front|of  a  blazing  camp  fire  some  years  be- 
fore his  death,  and  which  was  noted  down 
almost  word  for  word  as  repeated  from  his 
lips  by  the  interpreter. 

STORY  OF  BIG  CANOE. 

Many  snows  ago,  when  I  was  a  boy,  and 
while  Joseph  or  "Celp-Stop"  (Crazy  Coun- 
try) was  head  chief  of  the  Pend  d'  Oreilles,  I 
was  one  of  a  large  hunting  and  war 
party  who  left  the  place  where 
the  white  men  call  Missoula,  for 
the  purpose  of  killing  buffalo  and  stealing 
horses  in  our  enemies'  country.  We  (the 
Flatheads  and  Pen  d'Oreilles)  were  at  war 
with  the  Blackfeet,  the  Crows  the  Sioux,  the 
Snakes  and  the  Gros  Ventres.  The  Nez 
Percies  were  our  allies  and  friends  and  as- 
sisted us  to  fight  those  tribes. 

While  encamped  in  the  Crow  country 
Big  Smoke,  one  of  the  bravest  war  chiefs  of 
the  Pen  d'Oreilles,  discovered  Crow  signs, 
72 


tSTTHJ 


n 


and  taking  a  party  of  his  braves  with  him, 
followed  upon  the  trail.  The  Crow  camp 
was  soon  discovered,  and,  as  Big  Smoke 
started  out  more  to  get  horses  than  to  secure 
scalps,  informed  his  warriors  that  he  did 
not  intend  to  attack  the  small  party  of 
Crows,  who  were  now  at  his  mercy,  as  the 
Pen  d'Oreillesand  Flatheads  had  crept  upon 
their  camp  undiscovered,  and  the  Crows 
were  resting  in  fancied  security,  their  horses 
grazing  upon  the  pleasant  slopes  unguarded, 
while  the  old  warriors  lolled  about  the 
camp  smoking  their  pipes,  and  the  young 
men  were  engaged  in  the  wild  sports  and 
rude  game  practiced  among  the  tribe. 

The  announcement  that  we  were  not  to 
have  a  fight  was  received  with  great  marks 
of  disfavor  by  our  braves,  and,  as  I  was  a 
young  man  and  had  not  as  yet  taken  my 
first  scalp,  I  could  not  restrain  myself,  but 
cried  like  a  woman.  Big  Smoke  was  known 
to  be  the  bravest  man  in  the  tribe  and  no 
one  of  us  dared  impute  his  action  to 
cowardise,  and  we  therefore  acquiesced  in 
his  plans,  and  when  night  came  silently 
and  cautiously  we  ran  off  the  whole  band 
of  Crow  horses  and  left  our  enemies  on 
foot.  We  soon  found  our  main  encamp- 
ment and  the  horses  were  divided  up.  One 
particular  fine  black  horse  was  given  to  our 
head  chief.  The  day  after  our  return  the 
chief  announced  to  us  that  our  powder  and 
lead  was  nearly  exhausted,  and  as  there  was 
no  way  of  procuring  any  without  going  to 
the  Crow  trading  post,  asked  if  there  was 
any  of  his  warriors  brave  enough  to  under- 
take the  feat. 

Alexander,    or   Tem-Keth-tasme,    which 

No    Horse,     who   afterwards   suc- 
73 


ceeded  Joseph  as  chief,  and  who  was 
then  a  young  warrior  and  burning 
to  distinguish  himself,  immediately  volun- 
teered, and  disguising  himself  as  a  Crow, 
after  darkness  came  on,  set  out  on  his  per- 
ilous journey.  Arriving  at  the  Crow  stock- 
ade, he  was  immediately  admitted  by  the 
trader,  and  was  at  once  discovered  to  be  a 
Pend  d'Oreille  by  a  Crow  who  was  lounging 
about  the  post.  Word  was  sent  to  the  Crow 
camp  that  an  enemy  was  in  the  stockade, 
and  soon  a  loud  demand  was  heard  at  the 
gate  for  admittance.  The  gate  was  opened 
and  a  single  Indian  was  admitted.  He  was 
a  tall,  noble-looking  fellow,  dressed  in  the 
full  war  costume  of  a  Crow  brave.  Halting 
immediately  in  front  of  Alexander,  he 
reached  out  his  hand  and  cordially  grasped 
the  hand  of  the  Pend  d'Oreille.  "Canoe 
man  you  are  brave.  You  have 
come  among  your  enemies  to  purchase 
powder  and  lead.  You  are  dead  but  still 
you  live.  I  am  Red  Owl.  Your  warriors 
stole  into  my  camp;  they  took  my  horses; 
they  were  strong,  but  stole  upon  us  while 
we  were  unaware  and  spared  the  lives  of 
my  band.  Canoe-man  on  that  night  I  lost 
my  war  horse— a  black  horse  with  two  holes 
bored  in  his  ears.  He  was  my  fathers  gift 
to  me.  Is  there  such  a  horse  in  your  camp? 
Alexander  replied  that  such  a  horse  was 
given  to  his  chief  by  Big  Smoke  after  the 
capture.  "Red  Owl  will  go  back  with  you 
into  his  enemies  camp,"  and  striding  out  of 
the  stockade  he  harangued,  and  then  pick- 
ing out  twenty  of  his  braves  desired  them  to 
accompany  him.  Alexander  was  then  al- 
lowed to  make  his  purchases  and  on  the 
next  morning  accompanied  by  Red  Owl 


and  twenty  of  his  warriors  set  out  for  the 
Pend  d'Oreillc  camp. 

When  arriving  there  the  Indians  were  as- 
tonished to  behold  their  trusted  brave,  Alex- 
ander, leading  the  Crow  warriors  arme  1  to 
the  teeth,  up  to  the  lodge  of  their  chief,  who 
was  soon  surrounded  by  his  brave  Tend 
d'Oreilles  in  such  overwhelming  numbers 
that  there  was  no  escape  or  even  hope  to  es- 
cape for  the  Crows.  Red  Owl  dismounted 
and  asked  Alexander  which  was  his  chief. 
The  person  being  pointed  out  Red  Owl  ad- 
dressed him:  "Chief  of  the  Canoe  Indians, 
your  braves  captured  a  band  of  horses  from 
my  people.  Among  them  was  my  war, 
and  I  love  him,  for  he  was  the  gift  of  my 
father.  I  desire  the  horse  and  have  brought 
you  as  good  to  replace  him."  Our  chief, 
who  did  not  like  to  part  with  the  horse,  and 
who  perfectly  knew  the  advantage  he  pos- 
sessed, bent  his  head  in  silence.  Red  Owl 
repeated  his  speech,  but  our  chief 
gave  no  reply  but  stood  in  stolid 
silence.  "Chief  of  the  Pend  d'Oreil- 
les," exclaimed  Red  Owl,  "twice 
have  I  spoken  to  you,  and  you  gave  me  no 
answer.  I  repeat  it  again  for  the  third 
time!"  We  were  listesing  to  the  conversa- 
tion, continued  Big  Canoe,  and  as  young  as 
I  was;  I  could  not  but  admire  the  brave 
Crow;  surrounded  as  he  was  with  his  fol- 
lowers by  implacable  enemies,  only  await- 
ing the  signal  to  begin  the  slaughter.  But 
the  brave  bearing  of  the  Crow,  and  his  in- 
different manner  won  the  respect  of  us  all, 
and  we  could  not  help  but  admire  him;  and 
to  such  an  extent  did  this  feeling  prevail 
that  a  murmur  of  applause  went  around 

when  the  Crow  concluded  his  last  sentence, 
75 


a  LSI 


£ 

c 


Straightening  himself  up  to  his  full  height, 
the  Crow  continued'  turning  to  us:  "Pen 
d'Oreilles,  you  have  heard  me  address  your 
chief;  he  gave  me  no  answer;  he  buried 
his  head  low ;  he  changed  his  color ;  this 
the  subterfuge  of  a  woman.  Pend  d'Oreilles. 
your  chief  is  a  woman ;  I  give  him  my 
horse ! "  And  mounting  at  the  head 
of  his  band  he  rode  from 
our  camp  and  not  one  movement  was  made 
to  stay  his  progress.  So  overwhelmed  was 
our  chief  with  confusion  that  he  gave  no 
orders,  and  Red  Owl,  with  his  followers, 
returned  safe  to  his  camp. 
ADOLPH, 

first  war  chief  of  the  Flatheads,  died  at  the 
agency  in  1887,  at  the  age  of  78  years.  He 
marshalled  and  led  the  young  warriors 
when  the  council  was  held  at  the  agency, 
represented  on  the  part  of  the  United  States 
by  Hon.  Jos.  K.  McCammon,  assistant  at- 
torney general  of  the  interior  department. 
The  Northern  Pacific  Railroad  company 
was  represented,  as  attorney,  by  Hon.  W.  F. 
Sanders,  now  senator  from  Montana,  while 
the  Indian  leaders  and  speakers  in  the  coun- 
cil were  Michel,  chief  of  the  Pend  d'Oreilles; 
Eneas,  chief  of  the  Kootenais,  and  Arlee, 
chief  of  the  reservation  Flatheads.  The 
council  was  held  to  negotiate  with  the  In- 
dians for  the  right  of  way  for  the  Northern 
Pacific  Railroad  company.  On  occasions 
the  scenes  were  wild  and  stormy,  but  the 
level  headed  McCommon  carried  out  the 
views  of  the  government  to  a  wise,  generous 
and  honorable  settlement,  and  the  memory 
of  Mr.  McCammon  is  cherished  by  the  old 
chiefs  of  the  tribes  who  still  survive. 

Adolph    was   considered  a   great  warrior 
76 


and  led  the  FHtheads  as  war  chief  against 
their  enemies,  which  constituted  all  of  the 
tribes  who  hunted  buffalo  on  the  Atlantic 
slope,  except  the  Nez  Perces,  who  were  the 
friends  and  allies  of  the  Flatheads. 

A  battle  with  the  Gros  Ventres  was  fought 
some  fifty  years  ago,  about  one  mile  west  of 
O'Keefe's  ranch,  at  the  mouth  of  the  can- 
yon where  the  Northern  Pacific  crosses  the 
great  Marant  tressle  and  sweeps  from  the 
east  into  the  Jocko  mountains.  Chief  Fac- 
tor Kitson,  of  the  Hudson  Bay  Fur  com- 
pany, who  had  his  headquarters  at  Thomp- 
son Falls  on  the  Pend  d'Oreille  river,  came 
with  a  pack  train  of  supplies  from  that  post 
to  trade  with  the  Flathead  Indians,  who 
were  encamped  near  the  site  of  the  present 
city  of  Missoula.  Having  made  his  trade 
and  secured  the  furs  Mr.  Kitson  started  his 
pack  train  up  the  canyon  to  unload  at  the 
company's  warehouse  at  Thompson  Falls. 
Two  South  Sea  Islanders  in  the  employ  of 
Chief  Factor  Kitson  went  ahead  with  the 
train,  but  as  they  gained  the  entrance  to 
the  canon  were  fired  upon  by  an  ambushed 
party  of  Gros  Ventres,  consisting  of  about 
100  Indians.  The  two  packers  were  slain, 
Mr.  Kitson  and  others  of  his  party  were 
about  a  mile  in  the  rear  of  the  advance  party 
or  he  and  his  companions  would  have 
shared  the  same  fate  Kitson  turned  back 
and  informed  the  Flathead  camp  of  the  at- 
tack and  the  chiefs  at  once  sounded  the 
alarm.  The  warriors  mounted  their  horses 
and  headed  by  Adolph  and  Arlee  made  an 
advance  on  the  camp  of  the  hostiles.  The 
Gros  Ventres  retreated  across  the  hills  and 
up  Savallie  creek,  which  is  about  seven 

miles   west  of  Missoula.      The   Flatheads 
77 


killed  and  scalped  about  one  half  of  their 
number  before  they  made  their  escape.  The 
canon  leading  from  O'Keefe's  ranch  to  the 
reservation  was  called  Coviaca  Defile,  after 
one  of  the  unfortunate  South  Sea  islanders 
who  was  killed  by  the  Gros  Ventres. 

ARLEE. 

On  Thursday,  August  8,  at  4:30  p.  m., 
Arlee,  the  last  war  chief  of  the  Flatheads, 
and  of  the  confederated  tribes,  died  at  his 
ranch,  near  the  Flathead  agency,  and  the 
Northern  Pacific  railroad  station,  called 
after  him.  His  deathbed  was  surrounded  by 
his  Indian  relatives,  head  men  of  the  tribes 
and  friends.  Major  Ronan,  United  States  In- 
dian agent,  Mrs.  Ronan,  Dr.  Dade,  the 
agency  physician,  and  others  connected 
with  the  agency  staff  were  present.  The 
Sunday  before  he  died  he  was  visited  by 
Bishop  Brondel,  of  Helena,  and  Rev.  J. 
D'Aste,  S.  J.,  superior  of  St.  Ignatius  mis- 
sion, and  from  the  latter  received 
the  last  sacraments  of  the  Cath- 
olic church.  Arlee  was  baptized 
in  his  youth  in  the  Bitter  Root  valley  by 
Father  De  Smet.  He  accented  the  terms  of 
General  Garfield  and  removed  to  the  Jocko 
reservation,  and  was  made  head  chief  of  the 
reservation  Flatheads  by  Mr.  Garfield. 
Chief  Charles  never  recognized  Arlee  after- 
wards; never  spoke  to  him  nor  visited  him 
up  to  the  day  of  his  death.  Arlee  was  buried 
near  the  little  church  at  the  agency.  He 
has  gone  to  the  happy  hunting  ground,  and 
as  he  was  the  last  of  the  war  chiefs  of  his 
race  and  as  an  illustration  of  the  prepara- 
tion of  the  dead  chieftain  for  the  grave,  a 
translation  of  Schiller's  beautiful  burial 
song  is  here  given.  The  translation  is  be- 
lieved to  be  by  Bulwer: 
78 


i"-- 1 

m 


ARLEE,  LAST  OF  THE  FLATHEAD  WAR  CHIEFS 


OF  THE 

UNIVERSITY 

OF 


151I2J 


BURIAL  OF   THE   CHIEFTAIN. 
See  on  his  mat,  as  if  of  yore, 

How  lifelike  sits  he  here: 
With  the  same  aspect  that  he  wore 

When  life  to  him  was  dear. 
But  where  the  right  arm's  strength,  and  where 

The  breath  he  used  to  breathe 
To  the  Great  Spirit  aloft  in  air, 

The  peace  pipe's  lusty  wreath? 
And  where  the  hawk-like  eye,  alas! 

That  wont  the  deer  pursue 
Along  the  waves  of  rippling  grass, 

Or  fields  that  shone  with  dew? 
Are  these  the  limber,  bounding  feet 

That  swept  the  winter  snows? 
What  startled  deer  was  half  so  fleet, 

Their  speed  outstripped  the  roe's. 
These  hands  that  once  the  sturdy  bow 

Could  supple  from  its  pride, 
How  stark  and  helpless  hang  they  now 

Adown  the  stiffened  side! 
Yet  weal  to  him!  at  peace  he  strays 

Where  never  fall  the  snows, 
Where  o'er  the  meadow  springs  the  maize 

That  mortal  never  sows; 
Where  birds  are  blithe  in  every  brake, 

Where  forests  teem  with  deer, 
Where  glide  the  fish  through  every  lake, 

One  chase  from  year  to  year! 
With  spirits  now  he  feasts  above; 

All  left  us,  to  revere 
The  deeds  we  cherish  with  our  love, 

The  rest  we  bury  here. 
He-e  bring  the  Inst  gi'ts;  loud  and  shrill 

Wall  death  dirge  of  the  brave! 
What  pleased  him  most  in  life  may  siill 

Give  pleasure  in  the  grave. 
We  lav  the  axe  beneath  his  head 

He  swung  when  strength  was  strong, 
To  bear  on  which  his  hunger  fed— 

The  way  from  earth  is  long! 
And  here,  new  sharpened,  place  the  knife 

Which  served  from  the  clay, 
From  which  the  axe  had  spoiled  the  life, 

The  conquered  scalp  away. 
79 


s 


Isiral 


The  paints  that  deck  the  dead  bestow, 
Aye,  place  them  in  his  hand, 

That  red  the  kingly  shade  may  K!OW 
Amid  the  spirit  land. 


qg 

3£ 


MONTANA'S  TRIBUTE  TO  FATHER  RAVAULI 


LIST  OF  ENGRAVINGS. 


Major  Peter  Konan Frontispiece 

Signal  of  Successful  Flathead  War  Party  II 
Indians  who  conducted  Father  DeSmet 

from  St.  Louis  to  Bitter  Root  Valley. .  .  1 7 

Father  Ravalli 33 

Millstone  now  in  St  Ignatius  Mission 

Museum  which   ground    first  flour    in 

Montana 35 

St.  Ignatius  Mission  Flathead  Valley ....  39 

Agent's  Residence 62 

Michael  Revais,  official,  interpreter 64 

Major  Ronan,  Chief  Chariot  and  Indian 

delegation  visit  to  Washington  in  1884.  67 

Chief  Arlee  and  family 72 

Arlee,  last  of  the  Flathead  War  Chiefs  .  78 

Montana's  tribute  to  Father  Ravalli. .  ,  81 


II 


raJlsi 


LIBRARY  OF  CONGRESS, 


OF  THE 

|    UNIVERSITY   { 


1  I OQO'-2 


